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Old May 4th 12, 01:49 AM posted to uk.sci.weather
jbm[_5_] jbm[_5_] is offline
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First recorded activity by Weather-Banter: Oct 2010
Posts: 808
Default An amateur at large

"ronbutton" wrote in message ...

I know it's non scientific to talk about the law of averages ,but it does
seem funny that the drought sricken areas of central and eastern England
seem to be making up the deficit in bucket loads now (north Essex over 2"in
3 days ) for instance .
Secondly,how long does it take for the 6" of water covering most of England
at the moment to seep down into the aquafers ?,all the ponds in this area
are full to the brim,and with very little evaporation going on now because
of the perishingly low temps,it must be going somewhere,oh yes ,the River
Lee is two miles away,and the drains are also overflowing. All the trees not
standing in water ,are in danger of hyponatremia (look it up) and all the
messages continuing to flow from the 'experts' urging us not to be
complacent,because next winter maybe dry quite frankly ****es me off !

Now that feels better.

RonB


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Rule of thumb in this country. It will take at least as long to replenish an
aquifer as it took to drain it. So you'll be looking for at least 18 months.
That's why they say the drought will stay till at least the end of the year
and then some.

A lot of that 6" of water will be lost through evaporation at this time of
year, and most of the rest will drain back into the rivers through drainage
ditches, and what's left may seep down to the water table and drain out
wherever water tables drain out, and not necessarily down to the aquifers.
At the moment very little water is penetrating more than six inches into the
ground, because what is below the surface is bone dry and rock hard, and
just won't allow the water to pass through or be absorbed. It's going to
take a damn sight more than 8" of rain a month to allow that process to
start up again. Admit it, nature has damaged itself, and only nature can
repair that damage given time, lots of it.

jim, Northampton