KNYSNA | BITOU NEWS - Many a resident will remember November for its extremely dry conditions where the Knysna/Plett region received little to no rainfall. But, in the three months following Knysna's driest November in decades, both towns' rainfall figures have recovered well.
Before we delve into the rainfall figures for December 2022 to February 2023, one needs to understand just how dry November last year really was.
According to figures obtained from the South African Weather Service, its Knysna station in Charlesford recorded only 2,8mm of rain in November 2022, a staggeringly low 4% of the historical normal. Plettenberg Bay didn't fare much better, recording 3mm, 3% of its historically expected rainfall in November.
To put it into perspective, only a year prior in November 2021, Knysna record 79mm of rain, 96% of normal, and Plett recorded 84,4mm – 116% of normal. In an effort to preserve what remained of Knysna's water reserves, Knysna Municipality enforced Level 3 water restrictions in December 2022.
Bitou Municipality followed, enforcing Level 1 restrictions in January this year. As has become evident in times past, no matter what, you can't keep Knysna and Plett down.
When backed into a corner, we always seem to fight back and find a way out, no matter how adverse the conditions. This is exactly what happened in December 2022 when really high levels of rainfall were recorded as mother nature bounced back in her best attire.
Knysna recorded 63,4mm of rain which, while ever so slightly lower than December 2021's rainfall, was still 159,7% of the normal rainfall. Plett did even better, recording 119,4mm of rain, a staggering 208% of the normal rainfall. This positive growth in rainfall continued into the new year too.
In January Knysna enjoyed 48,2mm of rain – 101,8% of normal. Plett received even more, receiving 53,2mm of rain – 116,1% of normal. February was also slightly above normal. Knysna received 42,8mm of rain, 104,6% of normal, while Plett had 58,8mm of rain, 163,5% of normal.
When one puts it all together, Knysna received a total of 157,2mm of rain between the start of November 2022 and the end of February 2023. Over the same period in 2021/22, Knysna recorded 185,6mm of rain. So, while 2022/23 is a decrease over the full four months, it is encouraging to see how well we bounced back from the extremely dry November.
Plett, on the other hand, has been the standout performer of the two towns. Between November 2021 and February 2022 there was a total of 183,4mm of rain. Fast forward a year, and Plett received no less than 234,4mm of rain between November 2022 and February 2023, a 27,81% year-on-year increase. March has been another fairly good month for rain too, but unfortunately these figures aren't available just yet.
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