Dry weather to continue and temperatures to rise

Picture: JON GUEGAN (33956373)

DROUGHT conditions are set to continue for at least the next four days, with temperatures climbing close to 30°C by the time of Thursday’s Battle of Flowers parade, Jersey Met has said.

The Island entered ‘meteorological absolute drought’ on Thursday morning after 15 successive days without measurable rainfall, and the forecast is for dry conditions to persist.

Forecaster Matt Winter said: ‘It’s pretty much certain that we aren’t going to see any rain as far as Wednesday at least – after that the picture is uncertain.

‘We could have some thundery showers coming north from France towards the end of the week, but it’s only a small chance.’

Mr Winter said that the weather was likely to remain fine, settled and getting warmer over the coming days, with winds typically being force four and coming from the north-east.

‘There’s certainly potential for us to get close to 30°C – we are currently forecasting 28°C for Wednesday, and it could be a degree or two warmer by Thursday,’ he said.

Jersey’s last recorded rainfall – 0.7 millimetres on 19 July – was the only occasion during the month when a measurement was made and resulted in the driest July on record, well below the previous record figure of 7.4mm in 1949.

A total of 300.6mm of rain was recorded by Jersey Met for the period from January to July inclusive, leaving the Island on course to experience one of the driest years on record.

Since records began in 1894, the lowest annual rainfall figure was 425.9mm, in 1921, while the average across the past 30 years has been 918.2mm. Hot weather is also forecast for other parts of the British Isles during the next week, with the UK Met Office prediction for the ten-day spell starting on Tuesday being ‘generally warm, and locally very warm or even hot in central and southern parts’.

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