Rain, Rain Go Away

[Wood~Ant]

You've probably heard the old nursery rhyme "Rain, rain go away. Come again another day." Well that's just what my sentiment is about all these awful torrential downpours we keep getting.
With all this rain, even Sussex is sodden whereas normally we get it dry and dusty all Summer, and just damp in the Winter.

Both Jen and I are wondering if any of our local ant nests are so flooded that some colonies will drown
I wonder just where do ants find a drier place when the water table is so high, and how long can they survive if their nest is full of water for too long

You get a spell when the sun comes out and it all calms down, so you put some washing out or go off to the shops. Then those ominous black clouds appear once more and down comes yet another heavy cloudburst as the heavens open up and it pours down
It isn't normal for us to have so much rain in the South of England, yet here we are getting it; and it's the poor ants I feel sorry for, as we now have lakes where there should be dry places.

I know we Brits are famous for moaning about the weather, but it really is getting ridiculous. As I type this the sun came out for a brief spell after a very heavy rainfall, but those horrible black clouds are looming up on the horizon again, so it won't be long before it pours down.
I hope it is clear for tomorrow morning, as I have a long walk ahead of me and don't fancy ending up being soaked to the skin

[Wood~Ant]

Today's Update

It is absolutely dreadful, strong gale force wind and torrential heavy rain. Those poor old ant nests must be in a very sad state with such flaming &**?? awful weather. I just hope they manage to survive these floods and their tunnels don't collapse, as I'm sure many ants will drown with all this excess water in their nests

[Quah]

It is equally bad here in Malaysia. The past month has seen flooding in 4 states. According to the local meteorological department this year's rain is a 25 years return period.

Many thousands nests of ant and termites must have already been wiped out.

Several human fatalities were also reported with many villages evacuated to temporary shelters for weeks.

[Wood~Ant]

According to the Met Office records we have had more rain now than in 1951, which up until now was the British record for heavy rainfall.
Makes me wonder where it is all coming from, and does global warming have anything to do with it

Years ago when I was a kid we had snow in early December; but now it is wet and warm for the time of year.

[formica]

Here it is terrible. You are walking out into the street not suspecting anything. In Belfast, the sky is almost always cloudy so your walking out not expecting anything and then BAM a torrential downpour suddenly appears. I have heard that in county Derry and Fermanagh they are evacuating some homes. This is just terrible for humans but ants here will be okay as they have very strong nests in bricks or under a stone that has been cememted or is very firm in the ground. Here ants forage on woodlice which just live under there stones so no harm will come to them.

[Quah]

Not sure if it is equally true of ants in other places but here many species of ants can be underwater for over an hour and after the water drains they slowly come back to live.

I once had a ghost ant worker in a drop of water for half a day and for all intent and purpose it looks totally drown and dead. But after I dried it with a paper tissue and left the ant on the tissue it came back to life a few hours later when I came back from work.

I suppose with the typical weather pattern here these ants must have over the millions of years evolved to survive the regular flooding of their nest.