Saddleworth Moor Fire U.K.

a reply to: Kandinsky

haha I know what you mean. my cousins are in midlands and can't stand the heat right now. I could live in the rain i could.

originally posted by: Archonic
a reply to: Kandinsky

Brits love the rain. Nothing better than a good thunderstorm mate.

I'm down in the south east England just east of London and it's been scorching. I'm actually looking forward to a bit of rain I can't recall the last time I saw rain, it's been a few weeks for sure

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

We've just had rain this morning, lots of it, I stood in the garden and got soaked, it felt amazing!

originally posted by: bastion
I'd be very surprised if they don't spread (Winter Hill and Rivington Pike are still on fire as of this afternoon, plus new fires in NI and Wales. I volunteer for Lancs wildlife trust (on a wetland) and it's been dry and all reservoir tanks empty for six weeks. It's not been this dry for at least 100 years. Gritters are out across the county today as roads are melting. I live in what's usually the wettest place in England (just over a metre of rain a year, rains 50% of days a year) - there's been about four inches total the last three months, can't remember it raining at all in June.

Everything's tinder dry, usually it's boggy and requires walking boots as mud will easily cover up your ankles instead it's cracked dry in a lot of places with grasses dying from drought. It's an El Nino year and set to stay hot and dry until September-October.

Would advise people to be aware of the potential for fires in the countryside and check for any warnings. It's normal to have a few wildfires but they've never spread this quickly before. Very, very minor risk but first time in living memory it's worth even considering.

This is very true, and very worrying. There will soon be a shortage of water and it will probably have to be rationed at some point. Also nothing’s growing so the impact on wildlife, farms and horticulture is also concerning.

originally posted by: surfer_soul

originally posted by: bastion
I'd be very surprised if they don't spread (Winter Hill and Rivington Pike are still on fire as of this afternoon, plus new fires in NI and Wales. I volunteer for Lancs wildlife trust (on a wetland) and it's been dry and all reservoir tanks empty for six weeks. It's not been this dry for at least 100 years. Gritters are out across the county today as roads are melting. I live in what's usually the wettest place in England (just over a metre of rain a year, rains 50% of days a year) - there's been about four inches total the last three months, can't remember it raining at all in June.

Everything's tinder dry, usually it's boggy and requires walking boots as mud will easily cover up your ankles instead it's cracked dry in a lot of places with grasses dying from drought. It's an El Nino year and set to stay hot and dry until September-October.

Would advise people to be aware of the potential for fires in the countryside and check for any warnings. It's normal to have a few wildfires but they've never spread this quickly before. Very, very minor risk but first time in living memory it's worth even considering.

This is very true, and very worrying. There will soon be a shortage of water and it will probably have to be rationed at some point. Also nothing’s growing so the impact on wildlife, farms and horticulture is also concerning.

They've wisely taken action to try and avoid that as of this afternoonI got a text from United Utilities this afternoon saying demand is so high (extra billion litres locally this weekend) they're struggling to get water into the system quick enough and to turn off sprinklers, hosepipes, avoid baths, take short showers, to avoid lower pressure or no water at all this weekend/week and urgent help is needed to avoid a hosepipe ban.

No rain, no clouds and temps 26C+ forecast for the next three weeks here, slight chance of rain in the last week of July but expected to be patchy at best. Hopefully a hosepipe ban can be introduced sooner rather than later to avoid larger damage to farming, wildlife etc...

The spring snow really screwed with farm animal births - some were ridiculously early and a good percentage of these perished and three to four week gap until the next lambs, calves, pigletts etc.. were born/survived (In North Lancs to South Lakes area). Once the snow melted a lot of ground was flooded/saturated until May but not had much rainfall since.

a reply to: bastion

I’m in West Yorkshire near the border with lancs and North Yorkshire, the fields are all going brown and the reservoirs running low already. I’ve never known anything like it, it could be like 1976 or worse. It’s surprising after the long wet and prolonged winter we had how quickly everything is drying out.

It’s having an impact on my work already (landscape gardening) so time to try for a career change for me, it’s hard enough at the best of times..