Well, well, well! Despite last week’s scepticism, we actually did get a sprinkling of snow. It was late in the evening and soon turned to rain, but for a while, it was snow, and it was great to see that some of the village children were out and taking full advantage of what is a fairly rare experience in this part of the world.
The snow and the rain last night are the only substantial precipitation we have had over the last week, but since the snow started, we’ve already had the equivalent of 25mm/1 inch of rain. That’s already had an impact on the aquifer’s recharging and halved the fall rate since yesterday morning. There will likely be a short-term rise in water levels in the River Till.
The water level is 7 metres above the 11-year average for early January and we still have 3 months to go before the end of our traditional flood season; plenty of time for more interesting developments. The Environment Agency Flood Alert for groundwater flooding in the Salisbury Plain area is still in force and isn’t due to be reviewed until the afternoon of Tuesday 7th January. It seems unlikely it will be lifted and groundwater levels may well rise again by then.
What is the weather likely to do? Although the heavy rain is likely to ease off into the afternoon and we may have some dry spells, another band of heavy rain seems likely to move in overnight, with falling temperatures. It will get drier through the early part of next week, then rainy showers return on Wednesday and Thursday. Beyond that, we may have a little more rain and snow as we move towards next weekend. The forecast for the rest of January remains uncertain, but there may be a lot more rain towards the end of the month.