Well, well! The Tilshead borehole continues to surprise. In an average winter, when the aquifer is filling steadily with few dry spells of weather, a torrential downpour is followed about four days later by a rise in water levels. So, after the weather of the last fortnight, you might have expected the levels to rise. In fact, the levels have dropped quite significantly. Trees are coming into bud, so the sap is definitely rising, but I’m not convinced that is the entire explanation. I suspect that the dry period from late December until the end of January has had a large part to play. Things might become a little clearer if the wet weather continues at a similar level through March. For the moment though, water levels are some 7 metres down on the 8-year average.
After storms Dudley and Eunice ripped through the village, leaving quite a lot of destruction to property and trees, we now have storm Franklin to look forward to as it arrives late tonight and into Monday, with a Yellow wind warning from the Met Office and a lot of rain on its coattails; we may even get a bit of sleet or even snow later for a brief while. The wet and windy weather may continue for the rest of the week.
Beyond that, our weather looks to be becoming drier and more settled here in the south, with the bulk of the rain, sleet, and snow reserved for the north and the north-west in particular.