Stormy Weather II

[Serial_Apologist]

Overcast for most of the morning which made for a pleasant volunteer gardening stint. When the sun broke through at midday the temperature went up quickly and considerably and felt muggy with it, so no inclination to continue after lunch. Tomorrow I'm working and it's due to be thunder, lightning and rain from the early hours through to mid-morning, which could make for an interesting time if it happens. The site is prone to power cuts and IT problems in such conditions, and cloudbursts often mean a mad scramble with buckets, and then time spent with mops. As so much of the woodwork has dried out there may well be rather more gaps to let water in than usual and the gutters could well be full of rubbish as well - dead leaves, bits of twig and quantities of airblown soil - which don't always do much for the free passage of water down the pipes.
Then again we could miss the rain - yet again...

I may be right in thinking your area really got the biggest share of this morning's storm, odders. Here I was awakened, as I had been expecting, at 2.30am by loud rumbles of thunder, followed by a ten-minute downpour, which then eased off, but continued until midday, bringing an inch of much-needed rain. Until that intervention the nighttime temperature of 24C threatened to break all previous minima, but the rain brought it down to 18C. Braintree in Essex registered twice that amount of rainfall, and I believe further up country there was even more. That, however, could be it for quite some time, as high pressure once more builds up to the north, throwing a large ridge south across the entire country by the weekend, and putting a block on the Atlantic jet stream, as happened back in June. While that means mainly dry weather everywhere it also means reasonably comfortable temperatures.

[oddoneout]

I may be right in thinking your area really got the biggest share of this morning's storm, odders. Here I was awakened, as I had been expecting, at 2.30am by loud rumbles of thunder, followed by a ten-minute downpour, which then eased off, but continued until midday, bringing an inch of much-needed rain. Until that intervention the nighttime temperature of 24C threatened to break all previous minima, but the rain brought it down to 18C. Braintree in Essex registered twice that amount of rainfall, and I believe further up country there was even more. That, however, could be it for quite some time, as high pressure once more builds up to the north, throwing a large ridge south across the entire country by the weekend, and putting a block on the Atlantic jet stream, as happened back in June. While that means mainly dry weather everywhere it also means reasonably comfortable temperatures.

Correct - it has rained - properly, praise be! There was a lot of lightning without thunder in the earlyish hours then at about 5am some grumbles started and the flashes gave up and then rain gradually started falling, becoming quite heavy by about 7am. Very strange to hear downpipes gurgling...
Power and IT functioning at work but unwanted water problems were rather more than expected. An internal drain popped its cover and water (fortunately drainage from roofs rather than sewage) spread over a large area, which had to be closed to visitors. It's not unusual to have puddles in that area (which fortunately is a few inches below the other main internal areas, and has a concrete rather than wooden floor) but never anything like this morning's effort. From the debris that was disgorged my comments about rubbish in gutters seem to have been correct, and probably was largely responsible. Several back office folk who happened to be in today rather than WFH found themselves being issued with mops and buckets... Something odd that was noticed was the temperature of the waste water, which seemed to had evidently absorbed heat from its time underground, and made for rather steamy working conditions.
It continued to rain off and on for most of the morning and past midday, although not heavily or continuously.
Strange to see inches of water in the bottom of the buckets and tanks I had set out alongside the shed - gutters not up yet but the corrugated sheets do a good job of channeling the rainwater into containers below. Significantly cooler - fingers crossed that blight doesn't hit the tomatoes.
Equally strange to need my wellies.
Don't appear to have been any major problems arising round here from the rain - in town the usual places had standing water when I drove home early afternoon, although in larger quantities than in more "normal" times as lack of maintenance of road drains and gutters, many of which are silted up with windblown debris, means that surface water will take a while to clear.

[BBMmk2]

A good amount of rain, yesterday, thankfully. We need a lot more, as well. The grass looks a lush Green now, so let’s hope we get the necessary rainfall that’s needed.

Today is going to be sunny, and around 23C.

I hope to go up town today, on my mobility scooter!

[gradus]

It rained a bit yesterday in our bit of SE Suffolk but not so you'd notice but in W.Suffolk Bury St Edmunds had 80+mm in 2 hours. Pleasant day today but no prospect of rain.

[Serial_Apologist]

What really was remarkable was the extent of grass recovery yesterday, following just over an inch worth's rainfall yesterday morning - especially in common areas the council has not seen fit to mow for most of the summer.

It's beautiful today here - just been out dead heading all the roses in the vicinity, which were too sopping wet yesterday. I keep my late father's walking sticks to hand next to my bed, just in case they might come in handy were I to be raided during the night by burglars. Probably not, but sometimes the surprise factor can offer some advantage. However, one of them came in useful yesterday when it came to reaching up and hooking the demised flower heads at the top of our resident climbing rose, some fifteen feet up!

[Bryn]

What really was remarkable was the extent of grass recovery yesterday, following just over an inch worth's rainfall yesterday morning - especially in common areas the council has not seen fit to mow for most of the summer. . . .

Nothing remarkable about that. Funnily enough, it was just raised on GQT, with strong calls NOT to water lawns at the moment.

[Old Grumpy]

Nothing remarkable about that. Funnily enough, it was just raised on GQT, with strong calls NOT to water lawns at the moment.

Well, a lot of us (Yorkshire included as of today) are subject to a temporary use ban anyway. I would not fancy watering a lawn (of any size) using a watering can!

[BBMmk2]

A lovely day. Had a busy day, yesterday. Had a saunter down town to get some groceries, for MrsBBM, on my scooter, naturally. Coming back k, I was thinking about getting an ice cream but it turned a bit chilly, so went straight home. Just before lunch took both dogs out for their perambulation. Just before tea time, went out again with MrsBBM and ordered a chippy for tea.

[oddoneout]

Nothing remarkable about that. Funnily enough, it was just raised on GQT, with strong calls NOT to water lawns at the moment.

The same message goes out several times a year, every year, to little effect. Adam Frost on last night's Gardeners' World, standing on his dry brown lawn, opined that grass is just about the toughest plant around and repeated that there is no need to water it, and he certainly wouldn't.
The trend to No-Mow May and creating meadows on lawns may help to move things on in terms of having faith that the sward will recover. The silly thing is that each time this happens there is surprise at the speed with which lawns do green up again but the memory and learning is short-lived it would seem?
Where problems do arise is where the plants are physically wiped out, such as areas of heavy use where bare soil results and recovery is more difficult. Parts of the grass courtyard at work are now bald as the area gets a bashing from the children's activities laid on for the holidays and heavy use as a picnic area. The dry conditions last year made recovery slow during the closed season so it was not in good shape to cope this year even before the drought really hit.

[BBMmk2]

Another lovely day here. I have my son and his gf round, later!

[Serial_Apologist]

Another lovely day here. I have my son and his gf round, later!

That sounds well worth looking forward to, BBM.

It looks like the week ahead will be much as today, which might at last give me the opportunity to cycle over to Shooters Hill to visit two old friends of long standing, if they'll have me! Friday is still up in the air (excuse pun) - some suggestion of a thundery breakdown.

[BBMmk2]

That sounds well worth looking forward to, BBM.

It looks like the week ahead will be much as today, which might at last give me the opportunity to cycle over to Shooters Hill to visit two old friends of long standing, if they'll have me! Friday is still up in the air (excuse pun) - some suggestion of a thundery breakdown.

More opportunities then, for me to be out bon my scooter, then? MrsBBM, myself and our dogs, the boys, will be going somewhere good for a walk later. There’s a really good nature reserve near us.

[Joseph K]

Not as much sun today here, at the moment. That and a fresh wind means it feels cooler today.

[oddoneout]

Overcast and distinctly cool thanks to a brisk NE breeze. So long as I kept moving it was OK but when a shower arrived at midday I decided it was time to retreat from garden activities and have some lunch in the warm. I will need to go out again to finish what I was doing but it will be with modifications to the warm weather attire I was originally wearing!

[Serial_Apologist]

Overcast and distinctly cool thanks to a brisk NE breeze. So long as I kept moving it was OK but when a shower arrived at midday I decided it was time to retreat from garden activities and have some lunch in the warm. I will need to go out again to finish what I was doing but it will be with modifications to the warm weather attire I was originally wearing!

And I'm hoping that showers that are now being touted for east coast stretches will not be spreading much further west if I am to achieve my intended journey this week, otherwise weather forecasters should be lined up on Shooters Hill and subjected to whatever reason it was originally named for!