However, the thundery showers that ended a dry period of 23 consecutive days without rain have had little impact on the Island’s fields, which have become dust bowls, causing major problems for the Island’s agricultural industry.
Arable farmers are irrigating fields on a daily basis as they try to save crops, while the dairy sector is having to feed cows with food stored for the winter, as pasture land, usually lush with green grass, has turned brown.
Jersey Met says the drought was the 24th time the Island has gone without rain for 23 consecutive days since local weather records began in 1894.
A weather forecaster told the JEP yesterday that today was expected to be mostly dry with just a slight risk of a rain shower, but conditions were expected to change tomorrow.
‘There are fronts coming in from the west, from the Atlantic and across the islands during Sunday,’ she said. ‘It looks like we shall see some rain from time to time but it is difficult to say how much there could be.’
There could be patchy drizzle on Monday, she added, but it looked like the dry weather would return next week.
The Island is not experiencing the extreme heatwave conditions that are making parts of the UK warmer and drier than the normally sun-baked Mediterranean holiday resorts, causing rivers and reservoirs to dry up. The driest place in the British Isles this year is Barrow, a village in the St Edmundsbury district of Suffolk, which has been without rain for 52 consecutive days.
