Well, we are at the end of the first week of winter and what an ending to the week it has been. Storm Darragh is still blowing a hooly, but the wind direction has changed overnight for a westerly/south-westerly to a north, north-westerly and still gusting to 50mph. That is pretty much the peak for today; wind speeds and gusts should begin to fall away from mid-afternoon. We’ve had much less rain than other parts of the country, so in some ways, we have got off lightly. Despite that, water levels in the aquifer have risen throughout the week, though the rate of rise has decreased.
It’s worth noting that, like last year, water levels are already much higher than the annual peak level in the “average” year; which shows how misleading average values can often be. The average peak level tends to happen in late February, so already we have high levels nearly 2 1/2 months ahead of the average annual peak. Water levels in the River Till, as measured objectively by the measuring station in Shrewton, rose gradually up until Wednesday and have remained fairly level since then. There is a lot of water high up in the aquifer which is still working its way into the system. Environment Agency Flood Alerts for the village remain in force, for groundwater flooding in the Salisbury Plain area and, for the River Till as a tributary of the River Wylye. The groundwater situation is unlikely to change before Tuesday 1oth December, though the alert for the river may be lifted as early as this evening.
We might get the odd shower today and tomorrow, but significant rain is unlikely. As we move towards Christmas, the weather may get more unsettled and rainy further north, but we might escape that in Wiltshire. Parts of the country seem likely to have snow or sleet during Christmas week, but not here where the weather is likely to be fine and dry, with average temperatures for the end of December.