Weather

[stuartbert two hats]

It rained just as the gates opened = total mudbath

Even if that happened, the site would be able to cope with it much better, as the ground is so much drier.

[Jimmyeatspeople]

It rained just as the gates opened = total mudbath

Gate D was just chaos, path went off at a slope and people were falling everywhere. Saw at least 2 people's festivals ruined right there. Glad they changed the Gate D queueing system for last year. Was so much better.

[pedmills]

61-79mm of rain was predicted for 2007 apparently: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/19/news.paulmacinnes

That's over 10x more than what is currently predicted for 2014.

[tumbles]

Gate D was just chaos, path went off at a slope and people were falling everywhere. Saw at least 2 people's festivals ruined right there. Glad they changed the Gate D queueing system for last year. Was so much better.

Yep I think they closed it soon after - we'd luckily (if you can call it that) got through the gate litterally as the heavens opened. I heard they closed the gate for 2-3 hours while they sorted out the slope.

Last year was much, much better.. I remember there were splinter queues, people climbing through hedges etc in 2011. Total carnage.

[nellyt66]

61-79mm of rain was predicted for 2007 apparently: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/19/news.paulmacinnes

That's over 10x more than what is currently predicted for 2014.

I remember getting back and thinking never again. Then I watched the coverage of Iggy Pop getting all those randoms on stage, having to delay his set whilst security removed them, and then him not being able to stand up on stage because of the mud afterwards. Wouldn't have been possible without all the mud onsite. Knee deep is no worse than calf deep anyway!

Edited June 20, 2014 by nellyt66

[mrpman]

Latest from JackOne!

Some of you have been very kind to send some site photos and conditions are looking good, however if the models are correct for the next 6 days, there will be a big change.

I know some of you will be off to the festival for the next few days, so have a good one and remember to keep in touch via the Net Weather twitter account which will publish a link to all new blog posts.

Enough padding by me and on for with the forecast, which will again do the forecast for each day of the forecast.

Overview

Tuesday is looking settled and dry, with some decent sunny spells.

Wednesday 25 June

High Pressure will change to low pressure over the UK, with NW winds expected over Glastonbury, pressure is expected to be around 1030-1032mb, Unfortunately this means almost guaranteed rain.

Thursday 26 June

Low Pressure continues to dominate, with winds West to NW over Glastonbury, pressure again expected to be around 1028-1030mb. A weather front if still forecast to be embedded with the Low Pressure. At this stage the continuing expectation for the heaviest of the rain is to hit the festival site Temps are expected to be around 19-20c.

Friday 27 June

Slight variances in the models at this point, but the general theme is for Low Pressure to be slightly further out west with winds West to North West, and for the pattern to be slightly flatter than on Thursday, with pressure around 1025-1030mb. Friday is now expected to be extremely wet according to the models, but with quite a bit of uncertainty about the cloud amount.

Saturday 28 June

The general pattern of Low Pressure to our South West is agreed. Pressure for the Glastonbury area between models ranges from 1023-1028mb, and some have the centre of the High quite close to the UK, others halfway to the Azores. It does seem likely to be again extremely wet and temps are likely to be low to mid 20s. Some sunny spells seem likely but some uncertainty at this stage.

Sunday 29 June

There seems even less agreement on Sunday's weather, the general theme of Low Pressure being nearby is agreed, beyond that no real agreement, with pressure forecast between 1022-1032mb and that is not even including the ensembles. Winds are likely to be from a West to South West direction and with 850Hpa temps around 10c, it not likely to be cold. So in summary looking wet, warm with temps low-mid 20s, and the chance of some sunshine.

Overall

The total rainfall charts are very consistent with rainfall, both runs go for around 73mm of rainfall in the next 9 days.

Hahaha - brilliant.

[XIV]

My heart has still not recovered.

[GlastoSimon]

At the time in 2011 I was gutted that I would be missing out on the Wednesday, but when you look back it was probably a blessing in disguise.

At this current point in time my only worry is a HUGELY scaled down version of 2005, short burst of heavy rain. That's me at my very most negative though

[Mr.Tease]

61-79mm of rain was predicted for 2007 apparently: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/19/news.paulmacinnes

That's over 10x more than what is currently predicted for 2014.

Mercifully I couldn't afford internet in 2007 and didn't have a fancy phone so I was oblivious to that weather forecast!

[tumbles]

At the time in 2011 I was gutted that I would be missing out on the Wednesday, but when you look back it was probably a blessing in disguise.

At this current point in time my only worry is a HUGELY scaled down version of 2005, short burst of heavy rain. That's me at my very most negative though

Weds was fine after the inital downpour. It was Friday evening that royally finished the place off.

[Cheesey]

Weds was fine after the inital downpour. It was Friday evening that royally finished the place off.

Yeah, the weather during U2 was absolutely brutal. And U2 were shit

[clarkete]

I can't quite work this group dynamic. I thought it was just a thread discussing the forecasts, but there's a fairly strong sense of the chicken little as soon as there's mention of a cloud appearing in the sky.

I've only gone home once in the last 29 years and that was that grimmest of years when it rained every single blooming day. Having made the best of it on Saturday, when it got to Sunday and was raining again I decided it was time to go home and get dry clothes and feet.

[ICGenie]

Even if that happened, the site would be able to cope with it much better, as the ground is so much drier.

Can people stop saying this please? 2005 the ground was bone dry - as a consequence it couldn't absorb the downpour and we all know what happened then. I know the drainage is allegedly much improved but I'd rather not take the risk.

I think we're gonna be fine but this "the site is dry" bullcrap is misguided.

[Yesiamaduck]

Can people stop saying this please? 2005 the ground was bone dry - as a consequence it couldn't absorb the downpour and we all know what happened then. I know the drainage is allegedly much improved but I'd rather not take the risk.

I think we're gonna be fine but this "the site is dry" bullcrap is misguided.

It's less likely to waterlog though, less likely to stick around, as opposed to if it was soggy before hand.

[stuartbert two hats]

Can people stop saying this please? 2005 the ground was bone dry - as a consequence it couldn't absorb the downpour and we all know what happened then. I know the drainage is allegedly much improved but I'd rather not take the risk.

I think we're gonna be fine but this "the site is dry" bullcrap is misguided.

Fair point, but apart from the (unproven) improved drainage, we're not expecting 2005 levels of water. And the site did recover in 2005...on Monday!

Still though, point taken.

[nellyt66]

Can people stop saying this please? 2005 the ground was bone dry - as a consequence it couldn't absorb the downpour and we all know what happened then. I know the drainage is allegedly much improved but I'd rather not take the risk.

I think we're gonna be fine but this "the site is dry" bullcrap is misguided.

What caused the problem in 2005 was a month's worth of rain fell in a few hours on Friday morning. It was a one off freak event. The flooding was caused by the run off having nowhere to go (it flowed down the hill from Park, Home and Pennards until it hit the disused railway). Since then drainage has been fitted to divert any run off and take it under the railway, so even if we had another similar event, it wouldn't result in the same level of flooding.

[pedmills]

I've been looking through the 2011 thread for comparison. Here are some quotes from the friday before the festival then:

"All models agree on showers and have for a while. It's almost complete fact."
"yep i agree we will get showers but no one knows how many."
"With just a little bit of rain over the next week it will be a muddy one. Time to dig the wellingtons out."
"I'm now working on the assumption that it will be wet. Anything else is a bonus."
"Netweather has rain every day"
"it's been mizzling non stop all afternoon and evening, and the ground is now most decidedly squashy. It sucks."
"I am preparing for the worst"
"My mate has been down on site all week, he says it is very muddy already and will take a lot of sun to dry out. So if we get more rain before hand it looks like wellies all weekend"
"well there's no positive spin on it anymore. It's going to be seriously muddy."
"But while there's no chance of the weather being perfect we can still hope for the best of what we've got and be hopeful that it sticks to scattered shows rather than perpetual rain as in 2007"
"If you saw how waterlogged the site is now (see worthy fm vid posted earlier today with a very boggy cider bus area) I think anyone going will be spending a weekend in wellies with nowhere to sit."
"The mud at the far entrance to the Park field is the muddiest the site's been in years IMO."
...and so on.

And here's at the same stage in 2013:

"The ground remains hard"
"Was gonna go buy my wellies after work today. I know I'm asking for trouble but I actually may not bother."
"Still looking good :)"
"I'm loving the fact the weather report just seems to get better and better each day."
"Strong consideration being given to leaving the wellies at least in the car, here."
"So if the predicted good weather holds, is it a victory for science or faith?"
"So are we certain it's going to stay good throughout?"
"The weather anxiety is definitely out of control. Definitely worse than last time when we knew it was going to be muddy and just accepted it!"

[nickharley]

I can't quite work this group dynamic. I thought it was just a thread discussing the forecasts, but there's a fairly strong sense of the chicken little as soon as there's mention of a cloud appearing in the sky.

I've only gone home once in the last 29 years and that was that grimmest of years when it rained every single blooming day. Having made the best of it on Saturday, when it got to Sunday and was raining again I decided it was time to go home and get dry clothes and feet.

I'm not sure one contradicts the other. People are discussing the weather but when your own enjoyment is seemingly wrapped up in it's never going to get close to objective reporting.

[_dec]

there's a big deal being made from nothing on here. According to Accuweather the rainfall will be:

Wednesday - 1mm

Thursday - 0mm

Friday - 3mm

Saturday - 1mm

Sunday - 0mm

Is it just me or are these minuscule amounts of rain?

[brettredmayne]

This 2011 video still makes me laugh

http://youtu.be/W7Yf77XEFME

[Porcelina]

It was only the Friday evening in 2011 that was rough really, I had as good a time that year as 2010, if not better.

People really are exaggerating that festival's weather - I wouldn't 'take it' right now as I think we're in for a bit better, but we had two mixed days on Weds/Thurs, hell on Friday and warm blue skies Sat/Sun.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Porcelina

[MrPink]

I doubt there's an equivalent video for now, but I'm guessing it currently looks nothing like that.

Well, i saw some site snaps on here (might have been the panoramic ones) and the grass up on the park hill was yellow. Great indicator of how dry it is I reckon.

[Brave Sir Robin]

This 2011 video still makes me laugh

http://youtu.be/W7Yf77XEFME

"The site will be absolutely fine. There is grass everywhere still."

[GlastOff]

Getting whiplash with the constant changing forecast predictions.

2010 was my first Glasto. It was baking - lines and lines of people with sunstroke swamped the medical tent. People were planning their places at Pyramid with the shade of the tree.

I'm holding on to this...

http://festiweather.com/forecast.asp?EventID=667&Event=Glastonbury+Festival+2014

NFR NFC

[dubgaz]

It rained just as the gates opened = total mudbath

It was horrible. We got off the bus and the rain started. Then one of the straps on my friends rucksack broke. Then 5 minutes later the other one broke. It was a nightmare and that was BEFORE the whole "TRYING to put up the tent in the rain"