Map of the week: Rainfall
Into each life some rain must fall, as Longfellow noted. But too much is falling in mine, as Ella complained.
My map of the week shows that almost the whole of the UK has seen rather more of the wet stuff in the first six months of this year than recent history suggests we deserve.
With the exception of the south west, the whole country has seen above average rainfall compared with the average of the years 1961 to 1990. Pretty much everywhere north of Stoke-on-Trent has been "very wet".
According to the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology to whom I owe thanks for the map [pdf], "the UK rainfall total for June was appreciably above average but, in contrast to May, southern Britain was relatively dry whilst very unsettled conditions afflicted northern areas, from mid-month especially - terminating some notable dry spells".
So that's the last two months, but overall it is a soggy Britain we see. And the first couple of weeks of July have been unusually damp too.
So no hosepipe ban this year but we have got a fair amount of localised flooding.
Unusual weather or changing climate? It is probably too early to tell but perhaps Longfellow was right to say that "some days must be dark and dreary".
I'm 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~13~RS~)
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It would be interesting to see the actual sites used to collect these rainfall statistics. Given that Fort William on the west coast of Highland Region has something like 72 inches of rain per annum and Cromarty on the east gets less than 20.
It would also be useful to learn where and how the average temperature figures given in the weather reports are collected. There used to be automated weather stations on the tops of Ben Nevis and Cairngorm and using them in an average can hardly be a good basis for comparisons with areas using Coast Guard Stations and the tops of office blocks.
BTW Up here in the east side of the Highlands I had cracks in my grass last week as the ground had dried out so much.
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Oh come on, its still much warmer/dryer than last year.
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no doubt all due to climate change again, notice how there is little mention of the term global warming now, that is basically because it is not happening, we are now in our 11th year of cooling! So much for manmade CO2 warming the planet.
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"...compared with the average of the years 1961 to 1990..."
Shouldn't there be a 'mere' or at least an 'only' in that?
I was born at the beginning of the 1950's and well remember summer after summer of rain and more rain and that's not just childhood selective memory.
It's ridiculous to compare this year with the average of a mere 29 years. Like they say, with statistics you can 'prove' anything.
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Funny... about 5 or 6 years ago when we regularly had summer temps of 38'C+ and weeks of constant sunshine it was 'proof' of global warming. For the past few summers we've had temps barely hitting the mid 20's and constant rain... and apparently thats also 'proof' of global warming.
It seems to be the ultimate theory in that ANY weather apparently supports it.
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I agree with the criticism expressed about this article. All that is shown is that the North is wetter than the South-West. I would want to know that regional averages are being compared with their own historical median rainfall figures, otherwise it is too easy to over-dramatise the facts. Journalists need to appreciate that a lack of scientific rigour in their examinations of the data will only serve to lend weight to climate-change sceptics.
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I'd be interested to see data for the TEMPERATURE so far this year.
Snow and frost until April.
I was wearing a fleece jacket and had to put the heating on the other day - it's now July.
Of course the nature of 'average' is that some years will be higher and some lower. Hopefully some of the journalists on this website will remember that next time we have a hot summer.
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I strongly suspect that most years, you will have rainfall that is either higher, or lower, than average.
Still, gives the media something to atlk about in either case.
Why not an article about the amazing fact that half the people in this country are below average height, while the other half are above average height?
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The problem with weather (trends) is you need at least a 200 year lag time to even be remotely sure about what you are seeing.
I am sick of the rain this year after last year though. :)
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Sir, sir! Why is the north-east (125%) coloured blue, whilst the north-west (124%) is coloured black?
And more importantly, why do maps hoping to convey information affected by geophysical features such as prevailing winds and mountain ranges (leeward sides get less rainfall), use administrative boundaries to parcel up that information? For instance, there's a hell of a difference between the lake district and cheshire but they're bundled in the same blob here.
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"no hosepipe ban this year" - you underestimate our water companies, methinks...
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