Although we have had a few heavy outbreaks of rain during the week and some of it quite heavy, it hasn’t been persistent which is a great blessing. That, coupled with a rapidly advancing Spring means that much of the rain that has fallen is going directly into plant life, rather than the aquifer. As a consequence, water levels are now pretty much in free-fall and have been for several days. The most obvious sign being the falling river level. The Environment Agency lifted its Flood Warning for the Till on Wednesday and though a general Flood Alert remains in force for groundwater flooding in the Salisbury Plain area, including our village, I suspect it may be lifted in the next day or so as the water level as fallen to 99.00 metres AOD which the Environment Agency regards as the top of the normal range. The caveat to all this is, a prolonged period of rain in the coming weeks could see a rapid reversal of the situation as we have seen twice already this season.
Whilst there remains a slight risk of showers today, the likelihood is that the weather will remain dry and we may even have a bit of warmth in the early afternoon. Rain will blow in from the south-west overnight and we are going to have predominantly wet weather until the weekend. The situation may improve a bit for the Easter weekend, but be prepared for showers and chilly conditions if you are tempted to go out into the great outdoors. As we move into and through the first half of April, the temperatures seem likely to rise, but the wet weather will continue, particularly in the south of England, so there is unlikely to much respite from the risk of a return to a flood situation. Beyond that, there is a glimmer of hope, but much could change between now and the end of April.
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