LAST week’s burst of rain snapped the Island out of drought – but “weeks of showers” are needed to help Jersey’s farmers.
Wet conditions peaked Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, when six millimeters of rain was recorded in the space of a few hours.
Senior meteorologist forecasting manager for Jersey Met Adrienne Le Maistre said that prior to last week there had not been “any significant rainfall” since 16 July, although some parts of Jersey recorded “very small amounts” at the end of July and early August.
“Any rainfall is going to be welcome but how well it will soak into the ground will depend on surface conditions and how heavy the rainfall turns out to be,” she said.
Jane Rueb, executive secretary for the Jersey Farmers’ Union, said the Island would need “weeks of showers” to help replenish soil moisture and that the dry weather had made harvesting crops “very difficult and more expensive”.
“In terms of rainfall, we don’t need deluges of rain as the soil is so dry too much rain in one go won’t penetrate and may lead to run off,” she said.
“However, any rain is desperately needed and growers are behind on work now as many cover crops couldn’t be sewn in time as the soil was too dry.”
Mrs Rueb added that farmers are around six to eight weeks behind schedule.
