[ilan]

There it was on the news last night its been the driest winter ond spring and plants just have not been able to get away . certainly localy the farmers have taken an early cut of grass but are desperate for rain . I have had a no show on seeds planted outside but will wait till we get the rain forcast for this weekend if it comes any one else having problems.

Subject title typo corrected.

[greenjay]

no problems with growth in the garden as yet.
 but we are not on mains and have noticed levels are already very low and not really into a hot summer.
that's the great british weather!

[JayG]

Didn't sound as if the water companies are panicking just yet, although it has to be pretty unusual to see nearly dried-up rivers in the Yorkshire Dales (IIRC) at this time of year.

Farmers must be getting worried though, and I don't suppose there are many GYO gardeners who aren't wondering just what sort of a summer we're in for this year. 

[mumofstig]

I don't wish to frighten anyone, but one of the forecasters I follow, who uses past weather cycles a lot for his work, has been tweeting how much this year is like 1976 

Details here for those too young to remember!
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/2016/heat-wave

I'm already making sure that all my water butts stay full, just in case...

[Christine]

Yep that was the year that the reservoirs ran dry in West Yorkshire where we lived at the time and water was tankered in from Kielder in Northumberland. Local water board in West Yorkshire was fined heavily if I remember rightly as it was the non maintained Victorian pipe work network that leaked all the water away. They spent years replacing metal pipes.

I've heard the same report. Not happy. Have two allotments (full size ones) on the run and seedlings pricked out for hardening off to fill up both.

[arh]

How do you make sure that the water butts stay full with no rain??

[TheWhiteRabbit]

I don't wish to frighten anyone, but one of the forecasters I follow, who uses past weather cycles a lot for his work, has been tweeting how much this year is like 1976 

Details here for those too young to remember!
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/2016/heat-wave

I'm already making sure that all my water butts stay full, just in case...

Oooh, I remember that summer. I was a wee 6 year old and I vividly remember being bitten by a ladybird, presumably because it was thirsty and was going for the sweat on my arm!

[mumofstig]

How do you make sure that the water butts stay full with no rain??

Fill them up from the site tap, while I can 

[sunshineband]

How do you make sure that the water butts stay full with no rain??

Fill them up from the site tap, while I can 

Aww yuss!!!

[victoria park]

We have mains water at our site, but sadly even prolonged watering is no real substitute for proper rain.  I have been heavy watering a few individual vulnerable beds for 5 or 6 weeks now, with only an inch falling around Mayday in that period.

Interestingly, the D word is pertinent in the thread about no/low dig and related soil care. Drought is one of the reasons I keep my digging and tilling to a minimum.

[arh]

Good on ya Mum, tap water is better than no water. . I have tap water, but being on solow tariff, am wary about using it. An "Inch!!!!", we haven't had that much starting from beginning of march.

[AlaninCarlisle]

I don't wish to frighten anyone, but one of the forecasters I follow, who uses past weather cycles a lot for his work, has been tweeting how much this year is like 1976 

Not too much like 1976 here in N Cumbria. In 1976 we had an average but quite cold spring and early June. The summer with its draught and continuous sunshine only started in mid June and ran through to mid August when the weather finally broke with spectacular thunderstorms. I was playing golf at Silloth on Solway on the day it broke. The one and only time I've ever seen a water-spout over the sea.

We've had summer weather here for the past fortnight with day temps in the mid teens, albeit with chilly nights

[al78]

I don't wish to frighten anyone, but one of the forecasters I follow, who uses past weather cycles a lot for his work, has been tweeting how much this year is like 1976 

Details here for those too young to remember!
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/2016/heat-wave

I'm already making sure that all my water butts stay full, just in case...

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on analog years. Just because the weather conditions are similar so far this year, it doesn't mean it will continue like that. One similar year proves nothing. You really need to look at teleconnections over at least 30 years of data to extract relationships which could be used as prediction tools, and for UK seasons, there is very little skill in seasonal prediction.

Remember we had drought conditions from 2010 to early 2012, followed by one of the wettest summers on record. A year and a half later we had one of the wettest and stormiest winters on record (2013/14), followed by another wet winter in 2014/15. Now we've gone back in to a blocked atmosphere and weak jet stream, hence the lack of rain since last summer.

There is a remote possibility that the reduction in Arctic sea ice is having an effect on the northern hemisphere climate, making blocking setups more likely (possibly due to Arctic amplification effect), and so more frequent periods of prolonged stagnant weather conditions in the UK and elsewhere. If this is the case (and it is by no means certain) we may have to get used to it, and adapt our gardening methods to increase resiliance to prolonged periods of wet and dry (it is probably wise to do this anyway).

[mumofstig]

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on analog years. Just because the weather conditions are similar so far this year, it doesn't mean it will continue like that. One similar year proves nothing. You really need to look at teleconnections over at least 30 years of data to extract relationships which could be used as prediction tools, and for UK seasons, there is very little skill in seasonal prediction.

I assume a long-standing forecaster knows that well enough, but he still thought to mention it*... so I did as well - just as you thought to mention the reduction in sea ice etc
(* Note it was a mention - not a prediction )

I will also say that he isn't one of the forecasters that predict either snow or a heatwave on a regular basis in some of the papers, so I'm prepared to keep the water butt full - just in case 

[victoria park]

I think we can safely put the D word to bed now  in gardening terms
Absolutely soaked, and an inch down here, with a lot more to come in the next 3 or 4 days.

Next problem......slugs !