" The quaint little town of Bracknell, where once boffins steeped in the
black arts of 'forecasting' the weather (as they used to put it), was
last night visited by strange drops of water falling from the sky in an
almost continuous stream. The good residents, fresh from a night of
peaceful slumbers awoke to freak rainfall totals of almost 8mm;
residents were stunned to find small pools of water on minor roads which
had long lain under a thin film of dust and ash, fresh from the heath
fires of the Surrey woodlands. Sometime overnight, the total rainfall
for August passed the magic "100%" mark - 'normal' rainfall, and the
Chief Executive of Bracknell Forest Borough Council put the emergency
plan into operation. With fresh violent downpours today of a staggering
0.7mm, the town council offices were besieged by the media: motorists
were advised to avoid the town unless their journey was absolutely
essential. "



--
Martin Rowley: data via -
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/metindex.htm
Bracknell (Wooden Hill/Tawfield), Berkshire
NGR: SU 854 667 Elev: 80m
Lat: 51DEG23MIN30SEC(N): Long: 00DEG46MIN28SEC(W)

"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
...
" The quaint little town of Bracknell, where once boffins steeped in the
black arts of 'forecasting' the weather (as they used to put it), was
last night visited by strange drops of water falling from the sky in an
almost continuous stream. The good residents, fresh from a night of
peaceful slumbers awoke to freak rainfall totals of almost 8mm;
residents were stunned to find small pools of water on minor roads which
had long lain under a thin film of dust and ash, fresh from the heath
fires of the Surrey woodlands. Sometime overnight, the total rainfall
for August passed the magic "100%" mark - 'normal' rainfall, and the
Chief Executive of Bracknell Forest Borough Council put the emergency
plan into operation. With fresh violent downpours today of a staggering
0.7mm, the town council offices were besieged by the media: motorists
were advised to avoid the town unless their journey was absolutely
essential. "


Brilliant Martin.

We'll get tankers from Guildford we had 5.3mm today and 1.0mm last night.

Phil

Martin,

Yes, and yesterday's rain was a major event. Being in the far SW I was quite
surprised at it being dry when I got up. Greatly fearing the forecast
imminent downpours and near gale force winds I dashed out quickly then . . .
the sun came out. It wasn't completely dry, we did have 0.6mm by 18:00, and
it was blustery, but I don't think the holiday makers couldn't quite believe
it after the forecast. The wind did gust to an awesome 26mph at one point,
but somehow we coped. It would have been nice to hear some admission that
the forecast was wrong (unless you were on Scilly, where it did rain).

After overnight showers today has been a warm (21.3 max) breezy day with
sunny spells. All the heavy showers aligned themselves down the spine of the
penisula, fortunately well south of Boscastle, I think around 50mm fell near
Launceston.

I think it's worth pointing out that in Penzance this August is still
actually drier than July 2003, although it's not likely to stay that way.
Such is the nature of summer rain.


Graham
Penzance
Penzance Weather www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/weather.html

"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
...
" The quaint little town of Bracknell, where once boffins steeped in the
black arts of 'forecasting' the weather (as they used to put it), was
last night visited by strange drops of water falling from the sky in an
almost continuous stream. The good residents, fresh from a night of
peaceful slumbers awoke to freak rainfall totals of almost 8mm;
residents were stunned to find small pools of water on minor roads which
had long lain under a thin film of dust and ash, fresh from the heath
fires of the Surrey woodlands. Sometime overnight, the total rainfall
for August passed the magic "100%" mark - 'normal' rainfall, and the
Chief Executive of Bracknell Forest Borough Council put the emergency
plan into operation. With fresh violent downpours today of a staggering
0.7mm, the town council offices were besieged by the media: motorists
were advised to avoid the town unless their journey was absolutely
essential. "



--
Martin Rowley: data via -
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/booty.weather/metindex.htm
Bracknell (Wooden Hill/Tawfield), Berkshire
NGR: SU 854 667 Elev: 80m
Lat: 51DEG23MIN30SEC(N): Long: 00DEG46MIN28SEC(W)

Martin Rowley wrote in message ...
" The quaint little town of Bracknell, where once boffins steeped in the
black arts of 'forecasting' the weather (as they used to put it), was
last night visited by strange drops of water falling from the sky in an
almost continuous stream. The good residents, fresh from a night of
peaceful slumbers awoke to freak rainfall totals of almost 8mm;
residents were stunned to find small pools of water on minor roads which
had long lain under a thin film of dust and ash, fresh from the heath
fires of the Surrey woodlands. Sometime overnight, the total rainfall
for August passed the magic "100%" mark - 'normal' rainfall, and the
Chief Executive of Bracknell Forest Borough Council put the emergency
plan into operation. With fresh violent downpours today of a staggering
0.7mm, the town council offices were besieged by the media: motorists
were advised to avoid the town unless their journey was absolutely
essential. "


ROFL wait until the winter when you get as much as 1 cm of level snow and all
the London commuters struggle into work through 2 cm drifts and then worry if
they will ever get back home again amid the traffic and rail chaos :-)

32.5 mm here on Dartmoor today and I was thinking we got off lightly LOL.


Will.
--

" A cup is most useful when empty "
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A COL BH site in East Dartmoor at Haytor, Devon 310m asl (1017 feet).

mailto:
www: http://www.lyneside.demon.co.uk

DISCLAIMER - All views and opinions expressed by myself are personal
and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Will" wrote in message
...

ROFL wait until the winter when you get as much as 1 cm of level snow
and all
the London commuters struggle into work

.... 1 cm! Gosh Will, that would rate an "Emergency Flash" round here as
you well know. I doubt anything would move ;-)

Martin.

The Bracknell Desert doesn't extend as far as NE Surrey. Today I
measured 10.3 mm overnight and there has been a further 16.6 mm today, all as
heavy showers before 1300 Z, but nothing since then. Monthly total now stands
at 92.9 mm, the 1983-2003 average here being 54.9 mm.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, NE Surrey, 556 ft. TQ 3516 5955. A COL "B" station.