Much needed first rain after ten dry days

After a frosty start again yesterday there was a brief glimpse of the sun before cloud built up and the first rain (light) in ten days fell late afternoon. More substantial rain fell after 3am this morning with the total for the past twenty-four hours being 5.6mm, which brings the total for January to 46.7mm. This is exactly 50% of the January average when we are almost at the end of the month.
Both our local rivers, The Kennet and Og, are running extremely low. This is due to the below average rainfall over the past few months, November excepted, when precipitation can percolate down through the ground to refill the aquifers rather than evaporate from ground and plant life. There is a rule of thumb that this period occurs from mid-October to mid-March. The 32-year average for mid-October to the end of the year is 230mm and we have received just 151mm, a significant deficit of 79mm. The period from January to mid-March has an average rainfall of 183mm and to date, with just six weeks left in this period, received 47mm.
Another factor is that from mid-October to the current time, 42mm has evaporated into the atmosphere out of the total precipitation of 198mm. If we don’t receive significant rainfall in the next six weeks, our rivers will begin to dry up in the higher reaches when summer arrives.