Last night as I went out in the garden around midnight in still conditions
to look at the sky and glimpse at the temperature readings in the screen and
was alerted to the sound of a constant drop of leaves falling from trees and
shrubs. With only 6.7mm of rain so far this month and just 7.3mm since May
22nd Nature is beginning to shut down here. Rainfall since November 1st is
less than 57 per cent and with 8 days in a row above 25C, two reaching more
than 30C peaking at 31.8C, in contrast to many places in the north and west
of Britain, my part of Surrey is in desperate need of water.
Just recently the wind has been gusting to 30 mph with masses of leaves
blowing along my road and coming down from the trees but the area of
precipitation activity remains obstinately west of my part of Surrey with
radar echoes shrinking as they head east. As the pressure rises again over
the Weekend it looks like the Southeast, especially south of the Thames, is
going to continue to take on the appearance of the African savannah in the
dry season. That lovely fresh look we had in spring has now been replaced by
the withering spectre of drought. How I have looked in envy at all those
bright echoes on the radar screen in the west country and Midlands this
morning and longed for just one of them to hover over my beleaguered garden.

Ian Currie-Coulsdon
www.frostedearth.com