Gregory Labuschange has been measuring rainfall levels of the streets he has lived on for the past 16 years, collecting data to help gauge how much rainfall we have seen through the years.
Labuschange explained that he first started this hobby after seeing his father measure rain as his hobby and thought it would be interesting to start doing it for himself. According to his records, over the last 16 years the January average is 147mm. As of 27 January he found that we had 152mm. He went on to say that December 2015 was very dry with only 85mm of rain recorded where the average for December over 16 years is 144mm. The wettest month that he has on record is December 2010 when he recorded a massive 349mm which is close to half of one year’s rainfall in one month.
Labuschagne also vehemently urged people to plant only indigenous plants in their gardens as he says these plants require much less water than the exotic plants of which the nurseries are full.
“Anyone can do this for themselves, they can just get a water level gauge at their local hardware store and they can tally up how much rain fell,” said Labuschange.
The Fairland resident clarified that rain levels are not the same street to street. The findings he has come to on his street will not necessarily be at the same level as someone who lives a street away.
Labuschange concluded that he has always had an interest in learning and knowing things, so doing this as a hobby was a great release for him and his very inquiring mind. He has also for the past six months been posting his information on the I love Fairland Northcliff Facebook page where people have grown to like and request his findings more frequently.
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