Flood Watch
August ended with very unsettled weather notably due to storms Ellen and Francis, the latter reaching 80 mph in coastal areas. Locally wind speeds of 45 mph were recorded with the accompanying rainfall raising August’s total to 150% of average. These storms were the last of the 2019/2020 named storms with 1st September starting afresh with the next named storm to be Aiden. The 3rd of September was notable with a full moon called “the Corn Moon” being readily visible in the clear night sky. Throughout September the weather has been variable with periods of average temperature inter spaced with near record temperatures approaching 30 degrees due to the jet stream drawing warm southerly weather from Europe. Notable was the lack of rainfall, well below average at about 25% of average. The forecast for the remainder of September will see a return to more seasonable weather with reducing temperatures but with a low risk of rain.
The 23rd of September will be marked equatorially with the Autumn Equinox with Northamptonshire achieving equal day/night hours of 12 hours on 25th. In the following days daylight hours will reduce by 4 minutes per day.
Contact has been made with the Environment Agency to question why no active plan for further flood defence/repair/maintenance has been prepared since the completion of the Horestone Brook conversion in late 2017. Since the merger of Lincolnshire with the Anglian Region it seems priority is being given to the more flood prone area over Northampton.
J.Arnold
The Nether Heyford Prattler 