Drought/Low Rainfall Watch - Summer 2018

Oneiric 3

With the continuing possibility of low rainfall totals continuing for the rest of the month in many places, I think this deserves a thread of its own for us to keep tabs on rainfall totals around the country, not only for this period of the summer but for the rest of the season.


This table below shows rainfall totals at a few very select Met Éireann stations over the last 30, 15 and 7 days, and clearly shows the uneven distribution of rainfall over the respective periods at this small number of stations dotted around the country.





As you can see, both Finner Camp in Donegal and Mt. Dillon in Roscommon have received healthy amounts of prep over the respective periods, but Dublin Apt is faring very poorly.


I will updated this table and include a good number of other stations later tonight or sometime tomorrow so as we can get a better feel of where drought concerns are likely to be at there most highest, especially considering the heatwave conditions that are coming in for next week.

Feel free to post your own data at anytime.


All data from Met Éireann.

sdanseo

All of the grass verges, roundabouts and even the garden here have deteoriorated rapidly in the last week or two. Now more brown than green. I'm amazed there aren't water issues already although I guess the mountains will have fared much better and Poulaphouca / Leixlip resevoirs will still have some reserves.

sryanbruen

Another interesting thing to keep track of is the sunshine totals. Dublin Airport had 191.3 hours of sunshine (more than a full May's worth of sun on average) during the previous warm spell from May 22nd to June 12th.

Oneiric 3

sryanbruen wrote: »

Another interesting thing to keep track of is the sunshine totals. Dublin Airport had 191.3 hours of sunshine (more than a full May's worth of sun on average) during the previous warm spell from May 22nd to June 12th.

Interesting Syran. I'll leave those sun stats in your more that capable hands. You can use this thread if you wish, as the main 'Kermie' one is likely to move too fast, as Kermie threads tend to do. At least on here your stats won't be lost forever in the space of minutes.

pauldry

Those totals also remember that of Mt Dillons total 30mm was in a few hours in a thunderstorm.

Finner had 20mm of its total on Tuesday and one other wet day in May beinging in 60 per cent of its toal

Markree had 50 per cent of its total on Tuesday

Sporadic rainfall like this doesnt diminish the drought

The day after Tuesdays deluge there were huge puddles in places in Sligo but it was very windy since and all water gone by Thursday.

Running this evening I notice no dark green grass at racecourse and a lot is starting to get a little yellow.

The edges of the grass on the footpaths is dead completely and this is the wet northwest.
Must be getting very bad in Leinster

Oneiric 3

pauldry wrote: »

Those totals also remember that of Mt Dillons total 30mm was in a few hours in a thunderstorm.

Finner had 20mm of its total on Tuesday and one other wet day in May beinging in 60 per cent of its toal

Markree had 50 per cent of its total on Tuesday

Sporadic rainfall like this doesnt diminish the drought

The day after Tuesdays deluge there were huge puddles in places in Sligo but it was very windy since and all water gone by Thursday.

Running this evening I notice no dark green grass at racecourse and a lot is starting to get a little yellow.

The edges of the grass on the footpaths is dead completely and this is the wet northwest.
Must be getting very bad in Leinster

Good point, and I will include 'number of dry days' in the stats also. I think given my totals this month that I am in one of the wettest parts of the country this month so far, but most of the rain came in short, violent bursts, which does not seemed to have helped the state of the grass in the fields close to my housing estate. Noticed a slightly more 'yellow' look to the grass in them today with that usual green lustre curiously dimmed.

mirrorwall14

North Kildare here and there is brown everywhere already. Seriously dry ground

Donegal Storm

Same here around Maynooth, grass on verges, around manholes, streetlights etc is all dead and large patches of brown appearing everywhere else. With 10 days of hot dry sunshine looking likely the place will start to resemble southern Spain by the time we hit July. I'm loving the weather personally but its definitely getting increasingly worrying for farmers

SleetAndSnow

Same here in Cork City. All the verges are going orange and the ground is rock hard/ turning Dusty.

109mm of rain for the all of June last year, 65.6mm in 2016 and 54.3 in 2015, with the average at 80.9 Currently at 10.4mm (possibly a bit less depending on location give or take 1mm) near the end of June. Well below average

Danno

April was an above average rainfall month here in South Laois with 84.7mm recorded (62mm Avg). A total of 20.6mm fell on the 16th of April which was the last "drenching" we got here.

May was quite a dry month with just 30.6mm recorded. Wet days (1.0mm or more) were noted on May 1st (5.3mm); May 7th (1.0mm); May 9th, 10th and 11th (3.3mm, 5.4mm and 9.7mm); May 20th (2.2mm); and May 26th (1.2mm). Above 0.2mm and below 1mm (rain days) fell on days 2, 3, 8, 19 and 21.

June is very dry thus far (17.6mm) and looks like the game is up for rainfall unless a rouge thunderstorm delivers. Wet days (1mm or more) were noted on June 1st (1.9mm); June 8th (10.6mm - thunderstorm); June 15th (2.0mm) and 16th (1.6mm). Above 0.2mm and below 1mm (rain days) fell on days 13, 18, and 19.

The year to date rainfall is 414.1mm which is very close to the expected 423mm (1961-1990 avg) we would normally record come July 1st.

This data is from a standard copper gauge.

Danno

Just to add, the ground here is akin to concrete with grass notably yellow and quite brown on verges beside concrete and tarmacadam surfaces. Silage cut fields (a couple of weeks ago now) have a distinct illuminous yellow appearance. Rivers are very low with widespread weed well above the water surface.

hawkwing

There is a field here-South East Tipp- where an old boreen used to go through,that section of 50mx5m normally turns yellow after 4-5 weeks of very dry weather every few years and it's already like that. I don't remember '76 but this is one to watch...Missed the thunderstorm rain by a few miles recently.

hinault

Water table is very high

RobertKK

hinault wrote: »

Water table is very high

Maybe in very boggy land, but wells are going dry in places here in Kilkenny, the ground is rock hard, grass is sounding crunchy from drying out and brows of hills are burning up/turning brown, rivers are very low - this doesn't happen with high water tables.

arctictree

Very dry here in East wicklow. No real rainfall for a good few weeks and none forecast. Ground is rock hard. Getting some new roads built at the moment on the farm so I'll take the weather but growth is non existing.

Mobhi1

I've just cut the grass in my back garden in Glasnevin but it was mainly cutting some daisies; there was no real grass to cut. It was very dusty as well. It's 20.5C now and the haziness has cleared to leave clear skies. There's a gentle breeze masking it feel quite pleasant.

Oneiric 3

Some stats from Dunsany, Co. Meath over the last 30 days (May 24th - June 22nd)

Rainfall total: 13.9mm
Highest daily total: 4.1mm (Jun 16)
Number of absolute dry days (0.0mm) 17
Longest consecutive run of absolute dry days: 10 ( Jun 3 - 12)
Number of days with 0.2mm or less: 22


Datums from Met Éireann.

Gaoth Laidir

I go to Sardinia every summer, where all grass vegetation is whitish yellow in summer, but it's starting to look that in places here now too. Certainly come this time next week it will.

Graces7

Mobhi1 wrote: »

I've just cut the grass in my back garden in Glasnevin but it was mainly cutting some daisies; there was no real grass to cut. It was very dusty as well. It's 20.5C now and the haziness has cleared to leave clear skies. There's a gentle breeze masking it feel quite pleasant.

Everything here is green and lusty. We got that deluge last week and this is a pure bog area anyways. West Mayo offshore island.

Meteorite58

Not looking great for rain.

sryanbruen

Sunshine totals (hours) for Irish stations from the 21st-23rd June 2018.

Shannon Airport and Cork Airport reigning supreme so far. Some very high totals already with more than 40 hours at multiple stations just for this 3-day period alone.

Station|21 Jun|22 Jun|23 Jun|Total
Belmullet|12.7|13.6|14.2|40.5
Casement Aerodrome|14.1|15.8|13.4|43.3
Cork Airport|13.2|15.7|14.8|43.7
Dublin Airport|12.9|15.6|14.4|42.9
Gurteen|8.1|14.7|15.5|38.3
Johnstown Castle|2.9|15.8|15.5|34.2
Knock Airport|10.8|10.9|13.7|35.4
Malin Head|12.7|10.9|12.6|36.2
Shannon Airport|13.3|15.1|15.6|44.0
Valentia Observatory|12.3|15.3|15.5|43.1


Data comes from Met Éireann.

Oneiric 3

Gaoth Laidir wrote: »

I go to Sardinia every summer, where all grass vegetation is whitish yellow in summer, but it's starting to look that in places here now too. Certainly come this time next week it will.

Kildinia.

Donegal Storm

Out and about enjoying the sun today and the lack of green is getting very obvious now, any grass thats recently been cut is entirely brown and even the remaining green is very pale. Been a long time since I've seen the place this dry

Oneiric 3

Table showing the mean max at most of the reporting Met Éireann stations for the month of June so far (data is up to yesterday).




This it is a possibility now that most stations will finish with the monthly mean maxima of above 20c, and possibly well above at some of them.


Information C/O Met Éireann.

amadangomor

Donegal Storm wrote: »

Out and about enjoying the sun today and the lack of green is getting very obvious now, any grass thats recently been cut is entirely brown and even the remaining green is very pale. Been a long time since I've seen the place this dry

This has convinced me to not cut my lawn to give it some protection, neighbor cut his yesterday and his front lawn is similar to this, mines a bit messy but a lot greener. In this house 3 summers and first time I've seen clover on it. Lots of other flowers aswell.

My laziness will hopefully be good for bees and other insects also

MidMan25

People are clueless, don't cut your grass! During drought best to leave it at about 5cm long as it's not growing and can't repair itself.

CirrusBusiness

MidMan25 wrote: »

People are clueless, don't cut your grass! During drought best to leave it at about 5cm long as it's not growing and can't repair itself.

Well at least raise the height of cut up to the last on the mower. You can have a neat lawn and still a nice bit of length in the grass. I put out FeSO4 and some fertilizer before the dry spell and have been watering a few times a week. Grass is a lovely deep green. Neighbours plot is fried! Cut too low and zero watering.

Cantona's Collars

The missus showed me a video of the forest (Coolmeelagh Woods) on fire on the Carnew to Bunclody road this evening.

Pherekydes

I wouldn't waste good water on grass; water your flowers by all means, but not grass.

It looks dead, but nothing kills grass. First rain will bring it back to life.

loyatemu

cycled past Roundwood reservoir this morning - it didn't look particularly low (and I've seen it low in the past). Felt less guilty watering the plants this evening.

sryanbruen

Sunshine totals (hours) for Irish stations from the 21st-24th June 2018.

Shannon Airport still on top with Valentia Observatory and Cork Airport equaling for second sunniest stations during the period so far.

16.0 hours at Knock Airport makes it Ireland's sunniest June day since 2010.

Station|21 Jun|22 Jun|23 Jun|24 Jun|Total
Belmullet|12.7|13.6|14.2|15.8|56.3
Casement Aerodrome|14.1|15.8|13.4|14.8|58.1
Cork Airport|13.2|15.7|14.8|14.9|58.6
Dublin Airport|12.9|15.6|14.4|15.6|58.5
Gurteen|8.1|14.7|15.5|15.9|54.2
Johnstown Castle|2.9|15.8|15.5|5.6|39.8
Knock Airport|10.8|10.9|13.7|16.0|51.4
Malin Head|12.7|10.9|12.6|15.2|51.4
Shannon Airport|13.3|15.1|15.6|15.2|59.2
Valentia Observatory|12.3|15.3|15.5|15.5|58.6


Data comes from Met Éireann.

pauldry

Ive only cut my grass once this year and that was 19th May.

Usually by now Id have cut it about 6 times.

However due to severe cold restricting growth up to May and now just 2 wet days in 2 months there is absolutely no need to cut it as garden has stopped growing

Oneiric 3

National mean total over the last 30 days (since May 26th) is standing at just 31.4mm, which equates to just 45% of 1981-2010 average for the period. I will do a full individual Met station breakdown of the stats later on.


Info from Met Éireann.

SleetAndSnow

Grass has gone very orange in Cork City, with some of the pathway grass totally barren looking. My own garden is pretty patchy.

Irish_rat

pauldry wrote: »

Ive only cut my grass once this year and that was 19th May.

Usually by now Id have cut it about 6 times.

However due to severe cold restricting growth up to May and now just 2 wet days in 2 months there is absolutely no need to cut it as garden has stopped growing

:eek:

SleetAndSnow

Both cork councils cut the east today, it’s gone nearly totally yellow now.

sryanbruen

Sunshine totals (hours) for Irish stations from the 21st-25th June 2018.

Dublin Airport now whizzes into first place with Cork Airport and Belmullet second place.

Our stations still good for sunshine totals yesterday in spite of the high cloud.

Station|21 Jun|22 Jun|23 Jun|24 Jun|25 Jun|Total
Belmullet|12.7|13.6|14.2|15.8|14.0|70.3
Casement Aerodrome|14.1|15.8|13.4|14.8|10.7|68.8
Cork Airport|13.2|15.7|14.8|14.9|11.7|70.3
Dublin Airport|12.9|15.6|14.4|15.6|12.5|71.0
Gurteen|8.1|14.7|15.5|15.9|11.0|65.2
Johnstown Castle|2.9|15.8|15.5|5.6|14.0|53.8
Knock Airport|10.8|10.9|13.7|16.0|12.6|64.0
Malin Head|12.7|10.9|12.6|15.2|14.8|66.2
Shannon Airport|13.3|15.1|15.6|15.2|10.5|69.7
Valentia Observatory|12.3|15.3|15.5|15.5|11.1|69.7


Data comes from Met Éireann.

MJohnston

Some water levels on the east coast, Liffey at Leixlip just dipping below the 50th percentile:



And the Dodder:



Nothing abnormal at either just yet, but you can see in both the almost complete lack of Dublin-area rainfall in the last few months. I think the catchment area is probably keeping these levels up, for now.

pauldry

thats great info. where u get it

MJohnston

pauldry wrote: »

thats great info. where u get it

You can get country-wide levels of certain rivers via http://waterlevel.ie/


Then when you click on an individual station, pick "Water Level for past 5 weeks".



When you do that, some of the stations will have an external link to 'view historical data', where you'll be able to see much older values than 5 weeks (some of them don't have this).

Danno

Interesting - ours is below 50% for the past five weeks! http://waterlevel.ie/0000015005/0001/

snowstreams

yes waterlevel.ie is a great site.
I often swim in the corrib in Galway and I keep an eye on the temp here:
https://waterlevel.ie/0000030098/0002/week/

Its touching 22c now at the surface of the river.
Feels like its getting close to swimming pool temperature there now.

MJohnston

Percentiles are difficult things to figure out or explain - I believe the 50th percentile on that chart means that about 50% of the time, the water level is higher than it, and the other 50% of the time it is lower. 95th percentile I think means that 95% of the time the water level is higher than it, 5% of the time it is lower.

So being below 50 percentile is not necessarily out of the ordinary, I think it's somewhere around 80 percentile and below where things are substantially different from average.

Could be wrong about that though, as I say, my brain hurts when it comes to percentiles.

One thing to say is that percentiles do not equate to a percentage of the river level.

RobertKK

My nearest river on that is at 95th percentile, it looks it too.

snowstreams

RobertKK wrote: »

My nearest river on that is at 95th percentile, it looks it too.

Does it have any trout in it?
If so they would be in trouble with that low level and Im sure high temperatures too.
I remember seeing trout die in some streams back in 1995.

BlackandGreen

What are we even looking at on those charts? Bit hard to understand for the average person.
Is there a way to just see how many days water are left, or how much water is in the local reservoir?

RobertKK

snowstreams wrote: »

Does it have any trout in it?
If so they would be in trouble with that low level and Im sure high temperatures too.
I remember seeing trout die in some streams back in 1995.

It does. Not sure how they are doing

Oneiric 3

Rainfall totals for the last 30, 15 and 7 days at a select number of stations. I will defo include more stations in this list soon but gathering data in this weather, which is driving me nuts as it is, is proving to be a task.





Very low totals now in the eastern stations and in north Cork.


Data: Met Eireann.

Oneiric 3

Additional table showing more rainfall data (up to yesterday) at other Met Eireann stations:

Gaoth Laidir

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Additional table showing more rainfall data (up to yesterday) at other Met Eireann stations:

I'm struggling to remember when it rained here at Casement in the last 7 days...

SleetAndSnow

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Additional table showing more rainfall data (up to yesterday) at other Met Eireann stations:

The last rain I remember in Cork is a slight shower on the evening of the 16th of June which was very lightr only around 0.2mm. Since then I can't really think of anything.