Letter: It's wet in Kendal two days out of three (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Letter: It's wet in Kendal two days out of three

5:06pm Thursday 21st February 2013 in Opinion

Penny Benson makes a bold statement and dares to be challenged in her recent letter (Letters, January 31, ‘It does not rain every day in the Lake District’) stating that there were ‘200 fine days’ in Kendal in 2012.

This is quite easy to prove as the Environment Agency has a number of automatic rain gauges in the area, which record totals as low as 0.2mm.

These figures are widely available and the nearest gauge to Kendal is at Fisher Tarn, off Sedbergh Road. This actually shows 124 dry days for 2012, although there are a further 52 days with less than 1mm in the day which might be considered negligible but probably still means an unsettled day.

It is interesting to compare this to the 108 dry days at Kentmere and 132 dry days at Levens, so perhaps not as much variation across the Kent catchment as you might think.

Whether you are cheered by only one in every three days being dry possibly depends on your outlook on life!

M. Wilson, Kendal