I have not checked the actual rainfall statistics but we certainly did not go without rain for anything like as long as six months. There was no play because of rain on the Saturday (19th June) of the Lords Test match against the West Indies. Strictly speaking the reason may have been bad light or unsafe conditions - there was not much rain during the day but it was heavily overcast & the ground was very wet. Those of us who were there - & were not, in those days, entitled to any refund - felt that the players might have laid on some gesture of entertainment for the patient crowd.
And of course it famously began to rain almost as soon as Denis Howells was appointed Minister for Standpipes.
Having said that, other ways of presenting the statistics certainly show that we had unusually low rain fall for over a year, starting in 1975.
The other reason for doubting the assertion about this year’s low rainfall is of course the long period of snow & ice which we experienced at the beginning of the year. Assuming that ‘rain’ includes ‘snow’ in Met Office speak, I don’t remember there being an awful lot of snowing going on – I cannot remember ever going out in a snowstorm. What we had was the kind of snow that sticks, & then just stayed frozen for a long time.
But having said that, there has undoubtedly been a real change in the rainfall patterns these past few years, not so much of the relatively gentle but persistent type, much more a series of of sudden, though short lived deluges which put such a strain on the drains.
It is still galling to find that from today we are banned from using hosepipes in our area. Next thing they will probably stop washing the buses & the trains, but fingers crossed we shall not be reduced to bathing with a friend.
But then we can always go the few miles to visit a friend down the road who just happens to live in a different region as far as the supply of water is concerned
