Well honestly, what's with the Met Office. Earlier this year we were forecast a barbecue summer, and in the spring the Ash was definitely out before the Oak; Oak before Ask you'll get a splash, Ash before Oak you'll get a soak. Then St Swithins day it rained and we all know that if it rains on St Swithins day you get rain for another 40 days. Have to say that the St Swithins forecast has been the most accurate so far.
Last year we had the same thing, June was lovely and this year we had a mini heat wave for 3 days. Even Glastonbury wasn't a mud bath and Wimbledon went off without hardly a drop but NOW, its WET very wet. Last week many of the roads round here were only passable with a 4x4 and it really hasn't stopped (actually yesterday wasn't bad and I managed to get some gardening done but more of that in my next post). Also its Show season. M is off later today to help set up their stall for the Woolsery Show and it looks like it's going to be a damp one. The Launceston Show was a couple of weeks ago too and on the way to work through Launceston (or Lanson as its called by the locals) there was the biggest blackest fattest rain cloud positioned right over the show ground. A friend from work was there working that day and came in about 10.30 looking like a drowned rat, she said she had given up. It's such a shame, these Agricultural Shows are great fun and worth going but can be mud baths in the rain, mind you I suppose for the tourists it could be something to do on a wet day when going to the beach doesn't seem like fun. Hopefully all these wet summers won't affect the Shows, it would be a shame to see them go the way of the Royal Agricultural Show which did its thing for the last time this year. We have 3 more booked in for this season to have stalls at, Holsworthy, North Devon and Okehampton, lets hope that the weather is better for these.
Thing about the forecasts is that it is understandable that it is difficult to long range forecast and it appears that this year (as in the last 2 years) the problem has been the position of the jet stream which should flow well to the North of the UK at this time of year but is actually underneath us. I suppose it is difficult to predict this. I still hear rumours that August will be good at least for 2 weeks, but am not holding up much hope.
What does annoy me about the short range forecasts is that they are often wrong and that must be a real pain for people who rely on the forecasts for work. Take the silaging and harvesting activities, you need good weather beforehand to ensure the harvest is dry and good weather while actually harvesting, with the current weather there just doesn't seem to be enough time in between the rain to do any such activities! I also feel so sorry for all those folks who this year decided to holiday in the UK, perhaps forced to because of the recession and/or decided to because of the good long range weather forecast they had heard. Mind you we do have a friend with an indoor tourist attraction and they must be rubbing their hands with glee, so the rain isn't bad for everyone.
Hey ho, will just have to see if August does get any better and if we can finally use our new sun loungers! Happy Summer all.
Edited 29th July. Now the Met Office has revised its prediction of a Barbeque Summer and says that it only ever said that we would get 65% good weather! If you go onto the BBC website and look at the news about this you can see a link to what was said back in April and they definately said we would get temps above 30 degrees C and average or less than average rain fall. Ok we had a brief hot spell end June but what is the rainfall average, the average of the last 2 years? Sorry Met Office, not impressed and I am sure the folks who booked UK holidays are not either. If you can't do long range weather forecasts then don't!
Last year we had the same thing, June was lovely and this year we had a mini heat wave for 3 days. Even Glastonbury wasn't a mud bath and Wimbledon went off without hardly a drop but NOW, its WET very wet. Last week many of the roads round here were only passable with a 4x4 and it really hasn't stopped (actually yesterday wasn't bad and I managed to get some gardening done but more of that in my next post). Also its Show season. M is off later today to help set up their stall for the Woolsery Show and it looks like it's going to be a damp one. The Launceston Show was a couple of weeks ago too and on the way to work through Launceston (or Lanson as its called by the locals) there was the biggest blackest fattest rain cloud positioned right over the show ground. A friend from work was there working that day and came in about 10.30 looking like a drowned rat, she said she had given up. It's such a shame, these Agricultural Shows are great fun and worth going but can be mud baths in the rain, mind you I suppose for the tourists it could be something to do on a wet day when going to the beach doesn't seem like fun. Hopefully all these wet summers won't affect the Shows, it would be a shame to see them go the way of the Royal Agricultural Show which did its thing for the last time this year. We have 3 more booked in for this season to have stalls at, Holsworthy, North Devon and Okehampton, lets hope that the weather is better for these.
Thing about the forecasts is that it is understandable that it is difficult to long range forecast and it appears that this year (as in the last 2 years) the problem has been the position of the jet stream which should flow well to the North of the UK at this time of year but is actually underneath us. I suppose it is difficult to predict this. I still hear rumours that August will be good at least for 2 weeks, but am not holding up much hope.
What does annoy me about the short range forecasts is that they are often wrong and that must be a real pain for people who rely on the forecasts for work. Take the silaging and harvesting activities, you need good weather beforehand to ensure the harvest is dry and good weather while actually harvesting, with the current weather there just doesn't seem to be enough time in between the rain to do any such activities! I also feel so sorry for all those folks who this year decided to holiday in the UK, perhaps forced to because of the recession and/or decided to because of the good long range weather forecast they had heard. Mind you we do have a friend with an indoor tourist attraction and they must be rubbing their hands with glee, so the rain isn't bad for everyone.
Hey ho, will just have to see if August does get any better and if we can finally use our new sun loungers! Happy Summer all.
Edited 29th July. Now the Met Office has revised its prediction of a Barbeque Summer and says that it only ever said that we would get 65% good weather! If you go onto the BBC website and look at the news about this you can see a link to what was said back in April and they definately said we would get temps above 30 degrees C and average or less than average rain fall. Ok we had a brief hot spell end June but what is the rainfall average, the average of the last 2 years? Sorry Met Office, not impressed and I am sure the folks who booked UK holidays are not either. If you can't do long range weather forecasts then don't!
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