How dry is it this year I wondered? So I went to the Met office by the airport and was given their website link, with daily rainfall, temperature etc readings for years back. From these I computed the following table:
| Rainfall | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2013 | 25 | 31.6 | 17.1 | 1.2 | 89.9 | |||||||
| 2012 | 11 | 0 | 8.3 | 75.9 | 216.4 | 55.9 | 106.5 | 185.4 | 179.6 | 80.1 | 38.8 | 1 |
| 2011 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 60.4 | 92.6 | 292.7 | 216.8 | 191.2 | 260.8 | 254.9 | 69.7 | 6.7 | 0.6 |
| 2010 | 21.7 | 0 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 46.4 | 122.7 | 114.5 | 470.6 | 196.2 | 169.6 | 0 | 6.1 |
| 2009 | 0 | 0 | 16.7 | 97.9 | 142 | 140.2 | 124 | 126.8 | 191.7 | 223.4 | 0 | 7.5 |
| 2008 | 16.6 | 13.8 | 9.4 | 57.2 | 158.7 | 147.1 | 101.6 | 170.9 | 236.4 | 188.1 | 34.1 | 7.1 |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 393.5 | 130.1 | 74.6 | 153.2 | 179.8 | 64.6 | 73.5 | 0 |
| Average | 10.99 | 6.6 | 16.6 | 54.96 | 191.4 | 135.5 | 118.7 | 228 | 206.4 | 132.6 | 25.52 | 3.717 |
The average rainfall from Jan to May is 280.5
So the five months to May 2013 are the second driest period in 7 years and with the May total less than half the average. With only 11 days to got to the end of a hot and so far dry June , the advice from all the Forest Department Tree Nurseries I have had, not to request trees for planting until July, is best heeded. Unless, that is, abundant water and labor are available for newly planted trees.
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