THE extraordinary weather goes on.

After six months between last September and February in which more rain fell than usually happens in a year it has been an exceptionally dry spring.

“After the heavy rainfall and floods, we have had three months of hardly any rain,” said weather watcher Derek Small, who lives in Greete.

He recorded just 13mm of rain in May which is the lowest since 1998.

The wettest May recorded by Mr Small was in 2007 when there were 154mm – more than 10 times the amount this year.

March and April were also dry. However, because of the very heavy rain in February, the year so far has still been much wetter than is normally the case by the end of May.

Nationally, it has been the hottest May since 1929.

As well as being unusually dry May was also very hot with an average temperature of more than 19 centigrade, only the second time this has happened since 1990.

The coldest May in the area since Mr Small started his weather watching was in 1996 at 13.6 centigrade.

Mr Small, who farms, said that the weather had been very cruel.

The very wet weather badly affected crops and now the same is happening because it has been so dry.

“We desperately need rain and a lot of it,” he said.

The fact that there was so much more rain than usual over the autumn and winter does not help now.

“Our crops are looking very sorry for themselves,” Mr Small added.

“It has been a very bad year for farmers.”

He said that rainfall levels could significantly vary in spots within a few miles of each other and that the amount of rain where he lives in Greete could be different just five miles away in Ludlow.