The drought of 1976

[xmetman]

The drought of 1976 has been making headlines recently because it occurred 40 years ago this summer. Yep, not much of an excuse but what the heck. One of the best ways at looking at the event is by means of the daily UK gridded precipitation series for all the national and regional areas of the UK, and that’s the data I’ve used in the next few charts I’ve produced. I didn’t look for the classic 14 days without rainfall that is the definition of a drought because the values are derived from gridded values dry days are not common, and believe it or not the longest dry spell I found in 1976 was just 11 days. The first chart is for the England and Wales series which started in 1931, eventually the Met Office will extend these data sets back to 1910 or even earlier, I live in hope!

This chart is displaying a 365 day running total as you can see, the black horizontal dashed line is the long-term average (1931-2016) which for England and Wales is around 930 mm. You can plainly see 1976, the only time that the running 365 day total had dropped below the 600 mm mark for any time in the entire series, with only 1934 coming close to matching it. Here's the chart in a bit more detail.

In a recent look back at the drought in a BBC Countryfile special about weather events, John Hammond correctly pointed out that the drought had its roots in the previous year, June the 5th 1975 to be precise. Some of my readers may remember that snow stopped play at Buxton on the 2nd of June 1975, another very unusual meteorological event (were they connected?). Anyway back to the drought and the above chart, as you can see 365 day moving total erratically declined from being at 1,065.7 mm or +14.4% above average, to just 552 mm or -40.8% of average on August 24th 1976, the zenith or is that the nadir of the drought.

Here are the values from all the other UK national and regional areas for part of the summer of 1976.

Other Places

In Scotland as the chart below shows the drought is not as clearly delineated and far less severe as it was further south and peaked in early October rather than in late August, with anomalies of -22% of average. Having said that, there were several periods in the previous twenty years where average rainfall in Scotland had fallen to similar or even lower levels, 1959 and its great late summer for example peaked at -35.5% in mid October, late 1964, 1969 and 1973 were also drier.

How low can you go?

If you examine the monthly England Wales series which extends further back than the daily series and way back to 1766, there looks like there is only one other period that was sub 600 mm and could challenge the drought of 1976 and that was the year 1785. The 12 month accumulated rainfall in July of that year was just 522.1 mm (-42.9% of average), the daily rainfall could have been even lower, but the 12 month accumulation easily beat the 365 day accumulation of 552 mm in 1976. So it's close (probably the worst drought in over 190 years), but no cigar for the drought of 1976 as far as I can see.

[Dave C]

I remember that summer well as it was the year I moved into the house I am still living in. I think Essex was one of the most drought affected areas. I see there were at least 36 consecutive dry days for the S.E. One of the main memories was the difficulty in getting the mortgage approved due to the amount of subsidence taking place with the London (Essex) clay cracking. I think the glorious weather also made me see the road and the house through rose tinted glasses but I'm still here so it can't have been too bad then!

Dave

[vidcapper1]

Apart from the heat, I remember we had one big t/storm, which gave Cheltenham one of the highest rainfall figures for August.

[Col]

Does anyone remember the plague of ladybirds we had?
I recall seing them swarming at a disused dump I used to play at as a child.
I also recall a plague of wasps that ate my lunch when I was sitting outside.
I remember being quite distressed by this, but mum fixed me a new meal which I ate inside :)

And as for the standpipes well in Leeds we were apparently just a week away from them.
I remember asking if  there would be a hot and cold tap. My excuse for my naievirty was that I was just 10 years old at the time!

Col

[Dave C]

Yes I remember the ladybird plague. Further to the above it took us most of the summer to complete our house move. We then finally took our holiday in  the New Forest starting the day we had our first rainfall for weeks and it lasted pretty much the whole week!

Were you born before or after we won t he World Cup Col?

Dave, S.Essex

[Scott Whitehead]

I have just stumbled upon this old post by Philip Eden http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/philip-eden/The-greatest-drought-on-record.htm

[xmetman]

never hear very much from Philip Eden these days.

[Tudor Hughes]

Philip Eden is not well and has been so for some time.  I shouldn't say any more but someone closer to him may be able to help you.

Tudor Hughes

[Tudor Hughes]

Philip Eden is not at all well and has been so for some time.  I shouldn't say any more but someone closer to him may be able to help.

Tudor Hughes.

[Tudor Hughes]

On Tuesday, 5 July 2016 23:27:36 UTC+1, xmetman wrote:

never hear very much from Philip Eden these days.

Philip Eden is unwell.  I'm not at liberty to say more but a source closer to him may be helpful.

Tudor Hughes 

[Tudor Hughes]

On Tuesday, 5 July 2016 23:27:36 UTC+1, xmetman wrote:

never hear very much from Philip Eden these days.

Philip Eden is ill.  Can't say any more but a source closer to him may be helpful.

Tudor Hughes. 

[xmetman]

Tudor

Because you joined in the middle of the night shift I wasn't around to setup your account. You should be free to post now though.

Bruce.

[Tudor Hughes]

OK, thanks.  I hadn't thought of that.  I'm rather an owl but I didn't post them at 0647 as indicated.  Honestly.  Probably about 2 a.m.

Tudor Hughes.

[Tudor Hughes]

   My house had some subsidence as well, a crack opening up below the bay window, probably due to a thirsty ash tree outside.  The local council agreed to remove it and the crack eventually disappeared.  The soil is clay (35 ft of it) over chalk.

    There was a Minister of Drought, Denis Howell MP who'd been a top football referee.  If ever a job invited jokes and mockery this surely was it.  Another amusing remark I remember was a hydrological manager in the West Country saying that his local reservoirs were like "laying water out to dry".

    There was some controversy over a temperature of 36° recorded at Plumpton, Sussex just to the north of the South Downs.  It was probably 26 June.  The Met Office eventually dismissed it as "high" and I remember feeling vaguely dissatisfied by their justification though I can't remember the specific points.

     Does anyone remember standpipes?  None round here but plenty of media pics.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

[xmetman]

Yes, Denis Howell MP Minister of Drought, not a job that would last for very long in the UK. According to Wikipedia the hottest June day was on the 28th when it reached 35.6°C in Southampton. I've got SYNOPs for that day. Back then they rounded the temperatures to the nearest degree, but I only see a 34 and not a 36 at Southampton (03865) which is a bit odd.

The 26th of June was as hot...

[Smoky Bacon]

There are some interesting stats here.

My memory of 1976 is being stuck in a Thames Valley top floor flat with a large SW facing window. The flat just got hotter and hotter all day every day, and even with all the windows open it was like an oven by mid afternoon when the sun came around.

There was no point in venturing outside for too long, because it seemed just as hot out there and actually being in the sun made it feel twice as bad.

I think it was the weekend of the 29th/30th (at least it was late in June), we had a thunderstorm from a very high based Cb or more likely Ac Cast which had developed into a Cb. It was a welcome relief to have the sun blocked out for a short while and a little breeze, plus there was a 5 minute spell of rain.

However, within 30 minutes the cloud had passed, the wind dropped and the heat returned with slightly higher humidity, and it became just as oppressive again.

The weather broke on Aug Bank Holiday weekend IIRC and there were floods in the region but I can't remember details, but just remember seeing vast amounts of lightning to the south in the evening as the storms approached.

[Alan Barker]

Greetings from a sunny Algarve, Portugal, where I now live in my retirement.

 

I was working at a certain establishment near High Wycombe in 76 and can relate very well to SB's post. I recall sitting an exam at Reading College on the 18^th (?) June on a very warm sticky morning. In the afternoon the sun came out, and from my point of view, that's when the 76 summer began - although the stats may say otherwise!

[xmetman]

Alan

And the rest as they say is history!

Was it still Maths, Stats & Computing even back then?

Bruce.

[Alan Barker]

Yes it was - the minimum qualification at the time to get any kind of promotion on the forecasting side. The course members "lodged" at Shinfield Park, sadly long since closed.

[Smoky Bacon]

That is sad news about Philip Eden.

There was a time when he was a morning regular on Radio 5, (before it became the rather sad 5-Live) and coincided with my drive to work, and providing a very informed and stats-laden weather report.