OT: weather in the UK
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: OT: weather in the UK
- From: C* <C*@aol.com>
- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 03:59:49 -0700 (MST)
Several people asked about the weather in Europe.
Well, here in the UK we have had a mild and wet winter - ground water levels
are rising rapidly (relief after the driest three year period since records
began) - in fact, flooding is becoming a problem. I can not remember seeing so
much water lying around since January 1988 (which I remember because my
parents went to New Zealand for that month and it rained on every day that
they were gone!). Our fields are waterlogged, which causes some concern about
the welfare of our bearded irises. They are on raised beds (about 4 inches
high) but even they have been overtopped by standing water in places. There is
a steady stream of water running down through the nursery - the ditches can
not cope.
Much of this area is on flood alert. The village of Barnham (where the nursery
is situated) was flooded severely in 1993 (60 homes flooded) and so was
Chichester (where I now live) - water levels in the streams are now at the
same level as then, and the Environment Agency officer checks the levels at
least once a day. It is a real test to see if the flood relief work carried
out in 1994 is sufficient.
Recently we had a few severe storms. Storm tides at Selsey (8 miles from here)
breached the sea defences and flooded several homes. Then, less than a week
later, a tornado (not unheard of here, but pretty rare) damaged 1000 homes in
Selsey. After that, the sea defences were breached again. They are having a
bad time down there!
This is actually a result of El Nino (so they say) - although its main effects
are half way round the globe, it alters the air and sea temperature patterns
in the Gulf of Mexico and central Atlantic (most of our weather systems start
life there) and so we are getting a wet and windy winter - but mild. We
haven't had a frost since November, when we had a light snow covering for a
couple of days.
It seems from this list that most northern hemisphere listers are either extra
cold or extra wet - not good for irises - well TBs anyway. Maybe we should ALL
be growing siberians!
Graham Spencer
Croftway Nursery, Barnham, West Sussex UK
croftway@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/croftway/
USDA zone 8
8C/45F and rain rain rain
not looking forward to my wet cycle ride home
