October 2000
I recently installed an automatic raingauge in my garden and thought
people might be interested in the figures each month. We have had such
a lot of rain in the last couple of months that I at any rate am quite
intrigued by the amounts that have fallen each day.
I have figures only since 15th September, but already we have had
some remarkable readings. On two days between then and the end of
October we have had 43mm, but the record so far was on 29th October
with 71mm. The longest period with no measurable rain two days, and we
had only six days in October without rain!
The total rainfall for October was 266mm. I am trying to get accurate
average monthly figures for the Evershot district. The Dorset average
is not a good indicator of what we get here: we are much higher than
most of Dorset, and we all know that rainfall can be extremely local.
I hope to get average figures for Evershot by next month's report.
Incidentally, according to the Met Office, rainfall is measured at
9am GMT, and the amount is credited to the day before the reading is
taken. No getting up at midnight, then, thank goodness!
November 2000
You will not need telling that the rain has continued into December.
November was slightly less wet than October, producing 'only' 232mm
against October's 266mm. Very rough average figures for this region
for the two months would be about 75–100mm for October and about 100mm
for November. The wettest day was Guy Fawkes Day with 49mm. The
longest period without rain is still only two days, and there were
only 14 days without rain in October and November.
I have so far failed to persuade the Met Office to let me have proper
average rainfall figures, though my request has at least been passed
to the Climate Department. But I suppose their timescale is altogether
longer than ours and is no doubt measured in centuries if not in
millennia. So don't hold your breath!
December 2000
The first twelve days of December were wet, without a single rainless
day. 212mm fell in that time, with only 74mm in the rest of the month,
and 4mm of that were snow. (12mm of snow makes about 1mm of rain.)
Just before Christmas we had four consecutive days without rain,
which is a record since I started logging the rainfall in the middle
of September. So the monthly total was 286mm, making 784 for the last
three months of 2000. Roll on 2001, I say: maybe we'll have a change.
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