Now it's seriously dry.

A few spots of rain fell this morning but now it's beginning to look very dry. The trees are losing their Spring lustre and the grass is turning increasingly brown. It's not surprising really. The total rainfall for this area since 1st March (66 days) is only 21.6 mm. To put that figure into context, the 20-year average fall for those 66 days in this area is 105mm, so the total this year is only just over 20% of the average. What of the rest of Spring? Will it beat the record? Interestingly, the average rainfall for the first 15 days of May is 15mm, but for the last 16 days of May the average is 29mm. Therefore, if 'average' rainfall occurs for the last 16 days of the month the record will not be broken! The total for the Spring would then be around 51mm which would rank this Spring as the 6th driest since 1900. However, if only 18mm of rain falls the record will be broken. In 4 of the last 20 years, and 21 of the last 110 years, there have been daily falls of over 20mm in this area during May. So, it only takes one big thunderstorm and that 'Dry Spring' record set in 1976 remains intact.....and by the way, the grass really did turn brown by the end of that Summer, all of it!