Lengthy dry periods - any stats?

[iand61]

11.5mm here so far this month with 11.2mm of it on one day.

15 of the days have had no recordable rainfall.

[richie3846]

My local weather station (Lyneham) recorded 25mm in a recent thunderstorm so that ended our dry spell! It was intense rain resulting with people stuck in floodwater on a train. With lightening every 10 seconds for hours it was like a mid-summer storm.

[Weather-history]

Horncastle: 14.7mm from 30th May to 28th July 1925

[damianslaw]

I remember that January to March 2012 was also quite dry, until that very dramatic turn-around in early April. I believe some rivers were running exceptionally low and there was a few hospipe bans, or they were seriously being considered.

 

 

Yes in recent years there have been marked swings in short spaces of time between lengthy very dry and lengthy very wet periods - with little uniformity overall.

 

This year is another case in point, Oct 13 - Mar 14, exceptionally wet, since its been preety dry. Jan 13 - Sep 13 was relatively dry, coming on the back of a very wet period as you say from Apr 12 - Dec 12. This change came on the back of lengthy dry period which started in Jan 10, interrupted by a wet end to 2011 and wettish summers. The autumns and springs were very dry though. This came on the back of a lengthy very wet period which started way back in Aug 06 which itself came on the back of a very dry spell which started in March 2005.

 

The driest 2 year period on record April 1995- April 1997 was followed by a very lengthy wet spell lasting a mighty 8 years overall, with westerlies dominating - think back to the second half of 2000, the wet winters and summer combos of 97, 98 and 99, the disappointing wet summer of 2002, the very wet winter of 04/05. It followed a very wet period as well..winter 94/95 being exceptionally wet.

 

What is even more interesting is how the change from wet to dry has often occurred after a very intense wet period.

 

Winter 94/95 was followed by a markedly dry 5 month spell with a record dry hot summer in 95.

March/Apr 97- a very dry 2 month spell followed by the terrible June of 97.

The wettest autumn on record 2000 was followed by a relatively dry first half of 2001 (not exceptionally so, but notable how a marked change quickly occurred).

The exceptionally dry summer of 2006, was followed by a very wet period overall culminating in summer 07 - enough said about that one!

November 09 - wettest on record, followed by a lengthy very dry spell, winter 09/10 being very dry in some places.

March 2012 - very dry and warm, followed by a terrible 4 month wet spell.

Winter 2013/2014 - wettest on record followed by a relatively dry 6 month spell and counting... wouldn't be surprised to end up with a winter similar to 95/96 or 05/06 which came on the back of two very wet winters.

[Summer of 95]

The 2 years starting March 1995 was the longest extended "dry" I can remember. There hardly seemed to be any westerly months or even long westerly spells: only September 1995 was notably wetter than average and it wasn't as wet as September 1994. Any wet weather came either from thunderstorms or brief shower northerlies, there really was very little Atlantic stuff.

Feb 1997 was the first westerly month since the winter of 94/5, but it wasn't especially wet, just mild and windy. At the time it felt like an early 90s throwback as I'd got so used to cold, dry winter months. The dry spell only really ended with the disgusting month of June 1997.

And then from June 1997 right to the end of 2002 seemed like one long drawn out "wet". I only remember two months in this spell being noticeably anticyclonic and dry, July 1999 and December 2001.

[TonyH]

I am usually gunning for wet record months but perversely I don't want it to rain again this month so I experience the first 0mm month in my lifetime (for where I have lived at the time). In any case I am sure by November or December the balance will be getting redressed with exceptionally wet weather.

Edited September 21, 2014 by TonyH

[summer blizzard]

Yes in recent years there have been marked swings in short spaces of time between lengthy very dry and lengthy very wet periods - with little uniformity overall.

 

This year is another case in point, Oct 13 - Mar 14, exceptionally wet, since its been preety dry. Jan 13 - Sep 13 was relatively dry, coming on the back of a very wet period as you say from Apr 12 - Dec 12. This change came on the back of lengthy dry period which started in Jan 10, interrupted by a wet end to 2011 and wettish summers. The autumns and springs were very dry though. This came on the back of a lengthy very wet period which started way back in Aug 06 which itself came on the back of a very dry spell which started in March 2005.

 

The driest 2 year period on record April 1995- April 1997 was followed by a very lengthy wet spell lasting a mighty 8 years overall, with westerlies dominating - think back to the second half of 2000, the wet winters and summer combos of 97, 98 and 99, the disappointing wet summer of 2002, the very wet winter of 04/05. It followed a very wet period as well..winter 94/95 being exceptionally wet.

 

What is even more interesting is how the change from wet to dry has often occurred after a very intense wet period.

 

Winter 94/95 was followed by a markedly dry 5 month spell with a record dry hot summer in 95.

March/Apr 97- a very dry 2 month spell followed by the terrible June of 97.

The wettest autumn on record 2000 was followed by a relatively dry first half of 2001 (not exceptionally so, but notable how a marked change quickly occurred).

The exceptionally dry summer of 2006, was followed by a very wet period overall culminating in summer 07 - enough said about that one!

November 09 - wettest on record, followed by a lengthy very dry spell, winter 09/10 being very dry in some places.

March 2012 - very dry and warm, followed by a terrible 4 month wet spell.

Winter 2013/2014 - wettest on record followed by a relatively dry 6 month spell and counting... wouldn't be surprised to end up with a winter similar to 95/96 or 05/06 which came on the back of two very wet winters.

 

November 04-Summer 06 was actually pretty dry away from the north west, hosepipe bans were declared.