UK Crop Conditions
Looking at the statistics for my part of North Yorkshire today I can say that we had only 16.8 mm of rain during May. Normal is 40-60 mm, according to the Met Office. It is worth noting that if we hadn't have had this shift to wetter weather coming on from the west at the end of last week, we'd have finished May with less than 10 mm of rain.
Temperature-wise we peaked at a balmy 27.7C on May 22nd, Mrs N#3's birthday as it happens, righteous person that she is. Exactly a week later on the 29th when we got 6.9 mm (over 40%) of our months rain, the daytime high was just 11.4C. That's the British weather for you.
Despite the blip into the upper 20's, overall May was cooler than normal, averaging just 10.6C.
On a national level, crop development remains 7-10 days behind recent years, according to ADAS.
"The dry weather in April and May, with rainfall around 60% of the long term average for these months, has raised concerns over moisture stress, particularly in crops on light land. Soil moisture deficits at the end of May are approaching 100mm in eastern regions, and crops are showing signs of moisture stress," they say.
"Less than 10% of (wheat) crops have reached boot swollen stage at the end of May compared to around 50% in the last two years," they add.
High levels of black-grass in wheat are also an issue this season, they conclude.
Read the full report here.
Temperature-wise we peaked at a balmy 27.7C on May 22nd, Mrs N#3's birthday as it happens, righteous person that she is. Exactly a week later on the 29th when we got 6.9 mm (over 40%) of our months rain, the daytime high was just 11.4C. That's the British weather for you.
Despite the blip into the upper 20's, overall May was cooler than normal, averaging just 10.6C.
On a national level, crop development remains 7-10 days behind recent years, according to ADAS.
"The dry weather in April and May, with rainfall around 60% of the long term average for these months, has raised concerns over moisture stress, particularly in crops on light land. Soil moisture deficits at the end of May are approaching 100mm in eastern regions, and crops are showing signs of moisture stress," they say.
"Less than 10% of (wheat) crops have reached boot swollen stage at the end of May compared to around 50% in the last two years," they add.
High levels of black-grass in wheat are also an issue this season, they conclude.
Read the full report here.
