"Jonathan Stott" wrote...
I was out and about in Bournemouth today (first time for a while -
been away at weekends for the last few weeks) and lots of grass looks
very parched already.
Does anyone have rainfall figures for Bournemouth for the last
couple of months - is it significantly lower than elsewhere in the
region?

.... from Hurn data, the anomaly (wrt 71-00 average) in May was 55%,
and so far this month, the anomaly, with reference to the *whole*
month, is 46% (and it may end up close to that as not much significant
rainfall is forecast).

The rolling 12 month anomaly up to the end of May was 98%, and that
would drop to 96% if our current dry spell continued - but this is
nothing too dramatic: it was much drier through much of 2006 for
example. At the end of August 2006, the 12 month rolling anomaly was
down to 79%, then the wetter months at the end of 2006 came along to
rescue the situation, and Oct '06 through to Feb '07 was a
particularly wet period.

According to Philip Eden he-
http://www.climate-uk.com/page2.html
averaged across the England & Wales PPN domain, the anomaly is nothing
dramatic, so our lack of rainfall is probably restricted to the more
southern counties of England.

I've noticed here (some way inland from Bournemouth) that on our
light, ex-moorland soil, it has dried well on top. I've noticed that
we've had many days of low RH and a brisk wind which has help
desiccate the top layers.

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023