Notices

Tilshead Borehole Levels: 9th January 2022

What a difference a week can make.  The rate-of-rise in the water level of the Tilshead aquifer has accelerated four-fold from the previous week; from 1 metre/month to 1 metre per week.  That all sounds very dramatic, but to put it into context, it means the rate at which the aquifer is filling is comparable with the 8-year average, but is lagging a fortnight behind the average time of year for the current depth.  If this continues, you might expect to see water levels hitting 85-90 metres AOD within the next fortnight if we have typical levels of rain.  For the moment, levels remain some 5 metres below average and 15 metres lower than flood levels.

A graph of the water levels in the Tilshead borehole shows that the rate of filling of the aquifer is increasing but still below the average.So, what is the weather going to do in the week ahead?  With a clear sky at the moment, rain during daylight today looks unlikely, but it is blowing in from the west.  It will certainly arrive overnight and we look set to have a week of showers.  The middle of January looks set to give us a drier spell, with colder nights and frosts, with rain and more unsettled weather returning towards the end of the month, but here in the south, we may get a few longer drier periods.  Whilst there may be snow in the north of the country, it seems unlikely that we are going to see any here.

Winterbourne Stoke Parish Council