Unfortunately, the rain on most days since the start of February began to reverse the nice downward trend in water levels in the aquifer and in the River Till. Both are now rising and there has been a 8-10cm rise in the river level in the last 24 hours. The rate of rise in the aquifer may be showing early signs of slowing up again, so fingers crossed.
The Environment Agency issued a new Flood Alert for the River Wylye and its tributaries yesterday evening; which is helpful. Sadly, they have let the security certificate on one of their websites and its subordinate lapse, so anyone running even basic computer security may be warned off or prevented from accessing the site. NB – Some mobile phones have a security vulnerability that allows them to access sites without checking security certificates. It’s not clear yet if this also affects the Environment Agency’s ability to issue automated alerts and warnings.
This may be a fairly serious error as it has national consequences. An attempt to call and warn them failed, as the published number is just a call-centre and not the EA itself. Eventually tracked down an EA emergency number. UPDATE: EA have advised that the original site closed on 17th February 2024 and a new site is being used: https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/ If you have older sites ( flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/) bookmarked, you will need to replace or edit the bookmark.
With luck, we are going to get some sunshine today and the odd shower. More rain and unsettled periods as we go through next week. Hopefully, the rain won’t be too heavy or persistent. We are likely to experience successive bands of showers as we move into March. The winds are likely to continue to be from the west, so unsettled weather may continue in the first week or two of March.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.