The soil is cracked and most river flows are classed as “notably low” by the Environment Agency. In other words, in central and eastern England gardeners, farmers and wildlife are desperate for rain. However, weather forecast presenters on radio and television continue to regard sunshine as always being good and rain as a downer.
Over the bank holiday weekend, this was perfectly reasonable with millions of people out enjoying the countryside and seaside, plus all those fetes and shows. But many will have noticed that, for the end of May, the countryside is dangerously dry. Tadpoles have lost the race to mature before ponds dried up and birds are struggling to feed their young.
Those punting on the River Cam through Cambridge will have found the flow is almost non-existent. According to the agency, the Cam is already in the “exceptionally low” flow category, which only occurs in the worst 5% of droughts. Although some places have had the luck to catch some heavy showers this month, others have seen hardly any rain. Of course the presenters cannot change the incoming weather, but their delight at the continuing drought is irksome to those scanning the weather maps hoping to see the approach of continuous and heavy downpours.
