theweatheroutlook

Remove ads from site

TimS
  • TimS
  • Advanced Member Topic Starter
27 June 2015 18:47:26
The grass around here has definitely taken a turn today, with fresh winds and a very low dewpoint the last 2 days. Now at BGI 2/3 in the public parks - almost devoid of green. And I even saw some signs of stinging nettle die-back near the station this afternoon.
Brockley, South East London 30m asl
Jiries
27 June 2015 19:49:46

As it happens I flew back from Norway this week and the difference was arresting. Not yet as yellow as the last real (and at the time unremarked) summer drought in 2010, but getting there. The weekend's rain has slowed things down a bit.

April 2007 actually saw some browning here. First and last time that year.

What's notable is how relatively rare it is to see brown grass in much of continental Western Europe including Central France and most of Germany. I've been going on holiday to Burgundy for 8 years now and never yet seen any brown grass.

Originally Posted by: TimS 


I just came back from Germany yesterday and it was very lush and pure green landscape on the route between Gunzburg and Stuttgart.  While staying at Gunzburg and went for a long walk as they have lot of walking and biking trails.  It was quite damp area with filed looking very damp and few areas have swamp where water is collected from higher areas.  I was discussing my wife about how green than back home. I think Germany and Western Europe are like USA that get lot of rain and thunderstorms than us here.  In Chicago there no browning grass areas and always wet due to almost daily thunderstorms/rains days.


Nearly full brown landscape in Langley area but half in Epsom area due to clay soil so lovely to look at now. 

Jive Buddy
27 June 2015 20:44:04


 


we need to extend the scale backwards:


0. Grass beautifully green, dry to the touch and easy to mow. Can be sat on without wet or stained trousers.


-1. Grass lush and damp to the touch, but cuttable. Soil moist. Slight dampness to trousers.


-2. Grass too wet to cut. Soil sticky. Skidding and damage when sport played


-3. Ground a quagmire. Possibly some standing water. Grass distressed in trodden areas.


Most gardeners long for BGI zero but it is a particularly rare beast in Britain.


Originally Posted by: TimS 


We could apply something similar to the Model Output thread in winter....

It's not over, until the fat Scandy sinks.....

Location: St. Mary Cray, S.E. London border with Kent.
Jive Buddy
27 June 2015 20:47:17


 


1976 was the daddy, BIG Daddy.


Originally Posted by: Whether Idle 


Yup! I remember the giant haystacks everywhere...


'76 Is still the most memorable drought/hot spell for me, by a very long away. I remember it ending with one hell of a bang too!

It's not over, until the fat Scandy sinks.....

Location: St. Mary Cray, S.E. London border with Kent.
picturesareme
29 June 2015 14:00:58
Another dry grass shot, this is quite typical to be honest. As the summer goes on more and more fields around here will take this look or even worse. That's so long as it doesn't become a rain fest this year lol.

UserPostedImage 
Rob K
29 June 2015 16:41:33
Even with an hour or so of quite heavy rain yesterday the grass is even more brown today.
Yateley, NE Hampshire, 73m asl
"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." — Jerome K. Jerome
picturesareme
29 June 2015 22:28:46
I'm wondering, is it not a little early for grape vines to be fruiting?

UserPostedImage 
Patrick01
29 June 2015 22:43:53

I'm wondering, is it not a little early for grape vines to be fruiting?

UserPostedImage

Originally Posted by: picturesareme 


 


Our grape vine is absolutely covered in bunches, more than I've ever seen (it's been in for around 15 yrs I reckon). I wouldn't say it's particularly early though? The apple fig and plum trees are rubbish this year but the roses and the vines are going crazy.

Rob K
30 June 2015 09:45:40


 


Our grape vine is absolutely covered in bunches, more than I've ever seen (it's been in for around 15 yrs I reckon). I wouldn't say it's particularly early though? The apple fig and plum trees are rubbish this year but the roses and the vines are going crazy.


Originally Posted by: Patrick01 


Our apples are doing very well - some look to be almost ready to pick already!


 


And our blackberries already have lots of green fruit on, I reckon another 2-3 weeks and we will be picking them 

Yateley, NE Hampshire, 73m asl
"But who wants to be foretold the weather? It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand." — Jerome K. Jerome
TimS
  • TimS
  • Advanced Member Topic Starter
30 June 2015 12:56:13
Today's weather is really going to dry things out. Some very low dewpoints, high insolation and high temperatures. The grass in my nearby park was already hot to the touch at 8.30.
Brockley, South East London 30m asl
LeedsLad123
30 June 2015 13:43:53

Hyde Park in Leeds has a few yellow patches - but nothing unsightly. Wednesday's predicted storms will no doubt replenish the ground somewhat.



 


 


 

Whitkirk, Leeds - 85m ASL.
TimS
  • TimS
  • Advanced Member Topic Starter
03 July 2015 07:48:45
Having flown around a bit the last couple of days I can report that the whole of SE England is at BGI 2.5. A little less parched than I had expected - most uncut land and some parks (eg Regents Park) still have some green on them. That kind of khaki olive green you get when healthy grass slowly succumbs to drought.

More surprisingly much of the Rhine / Ruhr region of Germany is also firmly at BGI 2, unusual for Germany. Northern Germany and Denmark are at 0/1.

I'm intrigued what the situation will be on holiday in central France in 2 weeks time. I've never seen it anything other than deep green, even in hot dry weather, but last year I did fly over during their June soil moisture drought which was the worst since 1976, and it was looking decidedly BGI 4.
Brockley, South East London 30m asl
ARTzeman
03 July 2015 08:14:29

Yellowing patches of lawn due to being skimmed by contractors. Several fields have been cut  for hay and looking yellow.  Many green pastures with heads of grass turning a reddish brown. Still a lot of fields looking green.





Some people walk in the rain.
Others just get wet.
I Just Blow my horn or trumpet
TimS
  • TimS
  • Advanced Member Topic Starter
03 July 2015 12:31:19

Useful map showing soil moisture regimes in Europe. SE England and E Anglia belong to the "Ustic" category, as does the Paris basin and loire valley. Most of the rest of temperate Europe is Udic. Ustic means there is soil moisture stress and agricultural drought most years during the growing season, Udic means soils that generally have a positive soil moisture balance in summer. Xeric conditions occur in Med climates (winter leaching and excess moisture, summer drought.



http://passel.unl.edu/Image/Martha/Tim%20Kettler/soil_moisture_Europe-LG.jpg

Corresponds nicely to where we tend to see yellow grass, and crop irrigation, in summer. Though Kent and Sussex being Udic surprises me. I like the fact that according to this, Anglesey has a Mediterranean soil regime.

Brockley, South East London 30m asl
picturesareme
05 July 2015 13:02:06
Taken today, note how yellow the common is. This is quite a normal summer look :)

UserPostedImage 
TimS
  • TimS
  • Advanced Member Topic Starter
05 July 2015 15:05:12
My back garden is already responding to Friday night's storms, back to BGI 1, but I'd preloaded it with lawn feed. Local parks remain at 2.5. Just shows how at least some of thd yellowing is about lack of nutrients as well as moisture.

Much of central France is in real soil moisture drought now. A number of bush and field fires over the last couple of days in Burgundy.
Brockley, South East London 30m asl
chichesterweatherfan
05 July 2015 20:55:47
The grass in our local park in Chichester is now turning brown as are a number of our grass verges here....we missed out on virtually all the rain...just a few spots this am, barely enough to to wet the ground...it certainly feels like a draught is in the making down here on the south coast....but no complaints about the summer down here this far!
NMA
  • NMA
  • Advanced Member
06 July 2015 11:52:55

The verges in this part of South Dorset are becoming quite brown now and the school field looks parched. We seem to miss most of the the rain but lightning storms are visible in the photos in the local paper (over the Channel). I have yet to hear more than a distant rumble of thunder this year. It would be interesting to see some of the fabled French imports reaching us rather than going left or right or fizzling out over the Channel.


Nick

Vale of the Great Dairies
South Dorset
Elevation 60m 197ft
TimS
  • TimS
  • Advanced Member Topic Starter
06 July 2015 15:05:19

To coin a phrase, the green shoots of recovery are poking through in SE London already after the weekend's rain. There's a pale green haze across all the parks.

Brockley, South East London 30m asl
idj20
06 July 2015 15:17:59


To coin a phrase, the green shoots of recovery are poking through in SE London already after the weekend's rain. There's a pale green haze across all the parks.


Originally Posted by: TimS 


Indeed, my lawn is springing back to life after the 13.2 mm of rain that had fallen yesterday. Hopefully there'll be a bit of a top up tomorrow morning when a cold front passes over us, but rainfall amounts are expected to be scant. Still, anything to keep the topsoil moist will come in handy.


 

Folkestone Harbour. 
Sevendust
06 July 2015 20:32:17

Very dry here. Nearby Winchester has received 1.6mm in the last 14 days. Having to water the plants!

Global Warming
06 July 2015 21:14:22


Very dry here. Nearby Winchester has received 1.6mm in the last 14 days. Having to water the plants!


Originally Posted by: Sevendust 


Similar here. Just 1.0mm in the past 14 days. Missed all the showers last week.


Only 39mm since 15 May

Jiries
06 July 2015 21:47:34


To coin a phrase, the green shoots of recovery are poking through in SE London already after the weekend's rain. There's a pale green haze across all the parks.


Originally Posted by: TimS 


Still no signs of new grass shoots in Langley as they missed the rain yesterday completely and recent thunderstorm didn't do anything as the Saturday hot sun dried it up fast before the grass try to grow again.  It been quite parched since May when it started it happening.  With the ensembles show very little rain in the next fortnight wouldn't make any different but possible for weeds to die out?  Never died out since 1995 when it was all dead.

Ally Pally Snowman
08 July 2015 11:14:00

Was in Hyde Park yesterday and was surprised just how brown and parched it was. It's not somewhere I go that often but it's the brownest I've seen it since 2006. The models may be all over the place at the moment but the recurring theme is dry for the SE and EA. So I don't think it will be going green any time soon.

Bishop's Stortford 85m ASL.
Jiries
10 July 2015 21:52:16


Was in Hyde Park yesterday and was surprised just how brown and parched it was. It's not somewhere I go that often but it's the brownest I've seen it since 2006. The models may be all over the place at the moment but the recurring theme is dry for the SE and EA. So I don't think it will be going green any time soon.


Originally Posted by: Ally Pally Snowman 


Until Autumn time is the right time to turn green.  In 1995 it stay browned until early November which is amazing sights before the first snow arrived at the end of the month. It still brown despite some rain showers 2 days ago didn't do anything and this weekend proposed wash out from the BBC forecast is highly unlikely due to strong 1020mb ridge on Sunday so more like dry day again with sunny spells and  average temps.

Remove ads from site

Ads