Grocotts' pluviometric pundits recorded rainfall for the week 7 to 13 May as follows:

Nick James at Rivendell Hatcheries measured 5.5mm after a small shower Sunday night - the first rain in 17 days.

Robin Stobbs recorded at Grant Street (by the skin of its teeth!) 4mm.

Roger Rowswell reported 4mm from 4A Darling Street. First rain day for the month, he said. May has an average of five rain days; the maximum was 14 in 2011 and minimum was one in 1986.

Our regular panel of pluvial pundits have had difficulty compiling rainfall reports this week, mainly because there wasn't any - or hardly any. In our reports for the week 30 April to 6 May Robin Stobbs at Grant Street recorded ... wait for it... ZERO mm!

Total for the month of April was 58.2mm which is around average for the month.

Jim Cambray at Park Road agrees, Yes it was a dry week and the pluvio only managed to catch some dew (0.2mm).

Roger Rowswell at 4A Darling Street also has a dry pluviometer and notes that rainfall for April was 37.1mm (26-year April average is 68.8mm).

Jim Cambray at Park Road reported 16.7mm for the week, mainly (13.8mm) from the thunderstorm during the week. He wrote: This month we had a total of 43.2mm, which is below the long-term average of 63.9mm but within the April range of a low of 6.7mm in 1991 to a high of 155mm in 1997.

Nick James remarked, As with most thunderstorms, Rivendell gets less than the folks in town... we recorded 10.5mm for last week. Now for some nice warm sunshine, please.

Robin Stobbs, at Grant Street, recorded All of 13.2mm. I was expecting that storm would bring more than this - sure sounded like a lot more on my roof!

Roger Rowswell at 4A Darling Street reported 11.9mm and deduced that, As there is no rainfall forecast for today, the monthly total is 30mm below the April average of 68.8mm.

Jim Cambray reports rainfall at Park Road, which includes 0.6mm of dew, at 13.2mm. “The temperature dipped below 10°C (9.1°C) Sunday night, sohere comes winter.”

Nick James says Rivendell woke up to a cold 9C morning and a beautiful sunrise on Monday morning, with 21mm rain recorded for the week.

Roger Rowswell, at 4A Darling Street, recorded 12.7mm. “A nice heavy shower during the night on Saturday the main contributor.”

Robin Stobbs reports 10mm for Grant Street and comments, “We don’t seem to be getting as much as we did this time last year.”

The rainfall raconteurs report for the week from 9 to 15 April as follows.

Robin Stobbs, in Grant Street, says, Back at the 'sharp end' and have zero rainfall to report for the week.
Jim Cambray at Park Road recorded 3mm.

Roger Rowswell, at 4A Darling Street had 2.4mm and doesn't believe we're going to get much this week either.
Marlene Mitchner had absolutely not a drop in Extension 7.

Thank God for the rain

Rainfall at 4A Darling Street for the week 26 March to 1 April was 28.1mm, according to Roger Rowswell. He reported that the monthly total for March was 97.6mm, which is well above long-term average of 73.9mm.
Jim Cambray said that from 26 March until April Fool’s Day, he received 24.7mm in the Park Road area. This brought the total he measured in March to 86.7mm – far above the 65.9mm average that was previously recorded, although March seems to have a wide range with 155mm in 1997 and 21.3mm in March 2009.

Nick James at Rivendell Farm said that the interesting weather this weekend not only created some stunning cloud formations, but also delivered 39mm of rain.

At 15 Park Road, however, for the week 19 to 24 March Jim Cambray only reported 25.4mm.

More generous splashes were reported from other places around Grahamstown like at 4A Darling Street where Roger Rowswell measured 31.5mm from 19 to 25 March.

Marlene Mitchener said there was wonderful rainfall at Umthathi House in Extension 7 over the last week, and that they were absolutely saturated again with 32mm of rainfall.

NATURE'S BEST... Rivendell Farm had some interesting weather this weekend, according to Nick James, with the thunderstorms mixing with wet coastal air that resulted in the most dramatic cloud effects. Photo: Nick James

Nick James informs us that the Rivendell hatchery had 18mm of rain in a typical coastal rainfall system late last week. Nice showers, but great to enjoy this beautiful autumn sunshine, he said.

Jim Cambray on Park Avenue had 19.3mm for the week. Yes, like Nick we are enjoying the lovely sunlight at this time of year.

At 4A Darling Street, Roger Rowswell also reports 18mm for the week and Marlene Mitchener at Umthathi House in Extension 7 recorded 12.2mm of rain.

Robin Stobbs recorded 19mm of rain at Grant Street, while Roger Rowswell at 4A Darling Street reported slightly more at 20mm.

Jim Cambray noted that at Park Road, 17.5mm of rain fell in the past week.

Robin Stobbs reports 14mm of rain from Grant Street last week. He said that February, at 86.5mm for the month, was well above the 38-year average of 62.65mm - which compensates for this January only receiving half of the 38-year average.

Jim Cambray, on Park Road, recorded 11.2mm, also noting that February's rainfall was well above the average received in the past few decades.

Roger Rowswell at 4A Darling Street recorded a good 25.7mm, 16mm of which came from a heavy thunderstorm last Tuesday night.

Nikki Kohly observed from her house below Hillsview Road, in Hope Gardens: As usual, my forested garden seemed to get the lion's share: 28.5 mm over two days - 18mm for the day beginning on 28 February and 10.5mm for the day beginning on 29th - honest!