8th November, 2022
During fieldwork last week it was clear how the drought in Southern Britain is still having impacts despite the recent wetter weather.
Soil infiltration rates in an area of slowly permeable clay-loam soils to the west of Oxford were measured in the moderate to rapid capacity when, normally, at this time of year soils would be saturated and infiltration would be very slow.
With more rain forecast it is expected that soils would become saturated over the following month. However, if heavy rainfall continues, we could have a situation similar to 1894, when continuous heavy rain over the period 23rd October to 16th November after drought conditions in the summer brought the most severe flooding recorded on the River Thames in recent times.