Tuesday 1 January 2013

Rain, rain....

Go away,
come again another day,
little Johnny wants to play.

So sang we as children.   And, by golly, we could have sung it more times than enough during 2012 - I don't think anyone will be sorry to say good-bye to it weatherwise.

I am sure that some areas will have fared worse than we have up here in North Yorkshire - notable the South west parts of the UK-
but nevertheless we have had our fair share and our village in particular suffered greatly during the latter part of September, when five inches of rain fell incessantly in thirty-six hours.  Many houses were completely flooded out and some of the families are still not back in their homes yet.   This has been particularly hard for elderly folk - there are several who fit into this category.

The farmer keeps a rough check on rainfall and I thought it would be interesting to, look at it month by month.   I have given the amount in inches because I am afraid I still think in inches, but we measure the rain in millimetres and I have allowed approximately 25 mm to the inch for those who wish to convert.   The amounts are only approximate - as it always is with a rain gauge anyway.

January 3inches.
February 1 inch (this is almost always the driest month up here.)
March just over half an inch - all early in the month.
no hint up to now that there was anything special to come.
April 7 inches.
May 4 inches
June 6 and a half inches.
July 4 inches
August 6 inches.
September 6 and a half inches - five of which fell in 36 hours.
October 4 inches
November 6 inches.
December 6 inches.

Total for the year   54inches.

Now our beck is almost overflowing and the fields are so wet that any small amount of rain just lies on the top in pools as the ground is saturated.   This is not good for the many thousands of sheep which are out in the Dales throughout the Winter - it does make them prone to foot-rot.   The owner of our over-Wintering sheep is
coming shortly to have a look at their feet and make sure they are all alright.

Many of the sheep out on the fields are pregnant with this Spring's lambs - it does begin to look as though this year there will be a lot of single lambs rather than multiple births (ewes ingest foetuses if the weather is inclement).

Well, the celebrations are over for another year and we have entered into 2013 - may it be a happy and healthy year for all my readers/blog friends.       

13 comments:

rachel said...

Happy New Year to you all, sheep included! And sympathy, from a very very wet South West.....

Rachel Phillips said...

Nice to see the measurements in inches. Happy New Year from East Anglia, and we were very wet too.

John Going Gently said...

Pat...
At least you won't have the dreadful prospect of finding dead lambs all over the place
Happy DRY new year old gal

Crafty Green Poet said...

definitely too much rain and so ironic given the fears of drought expressed at the beginning of last year! Here's hoping for a drier 2013! Happy New Year!

steven said...

i wish a very happy new year to you weaver! and a drier new year as well! steven

George said...

Here's hoping that 2013 will bring you better weather, Pat. Though I'm not one of your locals, it seems to me that this has been a record-breaking year for rain in the U.K.

jill said...

Happy New Year to you Pat heres to a dry or at least a dryer one,thank you for your comment on my blog.Love Jill xx

Heather said...

It is supposed to be drier during January so hopefully early lambing will take place in better conditions. No actual flooding here but I have never known our garden so waterlogged and we've lived here for 30 years. It must be so distressing to have one's home flooded. May we all have more sunshine in our lives this year.

Robin Mac said...

Happy New Year to you Pat, and here's hoping for a much drier 2013. What is your average annual rainfall? 56 inches seems more like our tropics averages, than Northern England! Cheers

Cloudia said...

Thanks for the inches. we are still mired in that system. . . . (Marooned?)


Aloha & Happy New Year wishes
from Honolulu,
Comfort Spiral
~ > < } } ( ° >
> < } } ( ° >
> < 3 3 3 ( ' >

Stevie Taylor said...

We are finally catching up no our rain. we had a deficit but the last week has fixed that, I believe. My sheep and Great Pyrenees are the only ones standing in the rain. The goats and chickens are on strike----they don;t do mud. ;) Stevie @ ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com

MarmaladeRose said...

Happy New Year Weaver and the Farmer. All the best for 2013. Your little friends up the Dale. x

Gwil W said...

I like to see the measurements in inches. It's something I can visualize. Here on the weather reports in Austria they invariably go on about so many liters per square meter - It's meaningless to the man in the street - I know I've asked many of them.