Water companies across southern parts of England have warned customers to use water 'wisely' to reduce the likelihood of hose pipe bans and drought, despite 2012 being one of the wettest on record. Many areas are still recovering from some of the worst floods in decades but forecasters and utility companies have been concerned with the varying weather patterns. Last year 20 million people saw a hose pipe ban in one of the driest starts to the year in a long time.
Though stocks were well replenished by the heavy rainfall the UK's unpredictable weather is a major cause for concern. Many people have been angered by this 'insensitive' warning to areas still recovering from flood damage.
Severn Trent has appealed for customers to be sensible with water after three months of below average rainfall. Though the water stocks are pretty full after last years rainfall the start to 2013 has already been dryer than average with little in the way of rainfall. The latest statistics show that drought is never too far away. Though the start of the year has been very cold it has been majorly dry, similar to the start of 2012.
The rainfall figures for 2013 so far show that it has been significantly dry.
Jan 2013 - Average: 121.7 mm, actual: 107.7 mm
Feb 2013 - Average: 88.6 mm, actual: 58.7 mm
March 2013 - Average: 95.1 mm, actual: 62.1 mm
The position of the jet stream is the cause, being much further south than usual across the Mediterranean it pulls in the large low pressure systems that bring rain. Spain has seen its wettest start to the year in decades. However, this low position has resulted in no low pressure systems reaching the UK and the majority of the year has been under high pressure. Though we have had significant snowfall it doesn't amount to much water.
MetOffice "Snow on the ground looks like a lot of moisture but when it melts it is in
fact far less - 1cm of snow equates to about 1mm of rain."
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