Mark Hunt’s Weather Assessment
16th March – 21st March 2010
Here is a quick update following on from last weeks weather forecast.
You may remember that the projection from last week was for a change in wind direction today (Tuesday) and this signalled the beginning of a change in the weather pattern from a stable high pressure with cool / cold northerly winds to South / South Westerly winds for the coming week / weekend.
Well this is still on track and in fact today I was down in Wales and watched the flag above the clubhouse at Celtic Manor go from Easterly to no wind and then swing round to the West / South West and the temperature go from 3.5°C early on to 14°C by early afternoon accompanied by clear blue skies and sunshine, simply lovely.
The weather pattern is now moving to unsettled with rain, yes rain, mild winds, no night frost and a quick rise in soil temperatures because the rain will be falling at a mild temperature. (10°C plus) and that'll push the soil temperatures up.
The rainfall is projected in the following pattern :
Wednesday 17th March
Scattered showers primarily in the north and west.
Thursday 18th March a.m.
Reaching Kerry, Sligo, North Mayo, West Scotland.
Thursday 18th March p.m.
South West UK, Wales and moving inland to the Midlands.
Friday 19th March
Dry in the South and West (UK and Ireland), but wet in Dublin, Scotland, Northern UK.
Saturday 20th March
The next rain band reaches the south west / south Ireland in the early hours of the morning with heavy rain in Cork and then this moves rapidly west and north to cover Ireland, Wales and the UK, clearing in the afternoon.
Sunday 21st March
Wet in the west, Ireland / Wales / UK moving eastwards across all of the UK during the day.
What this means is a welcome return to growth-conducive conditions, decent soil temperature, a drop-off in drought stress, so no need to keep watering those turfed areas and a quick change from the excessive purpling noted all over greens as plants are able to translocate sugars down from the leaves at night, due to the higher temperatures. In particular it will be a good time to get fairway/ tees and greens granular's out before this rain arrives and to make that first wetting agent / biostimulant application so the water that does arrive is used / distributed uniformly.
Next week looks unsettled and cooler than this week but, hopefully, still ok for growth, though there is a lingering threat of a return to cold conditions and possibly snow showers. That said, it's a long way off yet, so let's see how we look at the end of the week.
Mark Hunt
Technical Director
Headland Amenity Ltd
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