Dry March?

[Paul S]

Did everyone else have a dry March? Not talking about giving up booze but precipitation. My little home weather station (which is surprisingly accurate) recorded just 2.8mm of rainfall this month, which has to be one of the driest ever. Two point eight, not a typo. Made up for a wet January and average February, I suppose. So we have one quarter of the year under our belt with just one sixth of the annual rainfall.

There is an old country saying 'oak before ash, we are in for a splash. Ash before oak, we are in for a soak'. Complete cobblers of course - how can trees preidict the coming seasons' rainfall? Except that it has been spot on the last few years. Currently my oaks are just breaking bud whereas the ash are resolutely naked ... could be an interesting year. :lol:

[MartinNicklin]

Yes it has been dry … but cold up here. We’ve had quite a few frosts. Lovely warm sun again here today but very cold this morning. The soil is bone dry and I can’t remember the last really heavy downpour.

[LostInJapan]

March was the wettest month so far, but January and February were very dry and colder than average. As of now, the running averages this year for temperature and rainfall are a bit on the cold side as well as a bit on the dry side (compared to the 30 year average). The result is things have been flowering later than normal, but with a recent warm spell (up to 30 degrees Celsius along the west coast of Japan last week!) things started growing fast suddenly. Been cold again the last couple days, with scattered frost across the region yesterday morning. After last summer's blow-out heat, I'm a little worried.

[AndyC]

Very little rain here during March. I was planting out a Drimys winteri at the weekend and was shocked to see how dry the soil is already. Hope we are not in for another drought.

[NigelJ]

Been very dry down here about 10 mm of rain in March.
Have been watering recently planted items very thoroughly with hosepipe, normally a watering can is more than enough.

[Fof]

@Paul S
Just out of curiosity, what weather station are you using?
I've been thinking about them for a while, but have always been a bit suspicious of their accuracy.

Fof

[Paul S]

I'm using one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07R1Y72G4/ ... haWw&th=1

This model links into your home wifi network and, from there, uploads to a cloud-based site from which you can access the info via an app on a phone. You can expand the number of sensors, too, so I have one in my greenhouse.

I've had 2 different ones before this - one was a really expensive but flakey system, one was similar to this but didn't last. The weak link with these seems to be the wireless/bluetooth connection bwteeen the actual unit and the receiver indoors - this one hasn't put a foot wrong since I installed it over a year ago. I'm very pleased with it and, for the money, think it is exceptional. Here are some screen shots from my pc when logged into the cloud site (which is also Ecowitt)






Edit, incidentally I have mounted the actual unit 180 degrees out of true so the westerly wind direction is easterly. Can't be bothered to change it! :lol:

[Fof]

Thanks, Paul