Some studies do not define the terms at all. We found that although precipitation is prevalently used to describe ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’ conditions, many other variables are also used to refer to changes in water availability between research fields, pointing to a varied perspective on the use of these terms. We conducted a literature review of almost 500 recent climate change studies to quantitatively investigate the consistency of the use of these terms across disciplines, regarding the hydroclimatic variables they are related to.
In terrestrial ecosystems, these changes are usually described with the terms ‘wetter’ and ‘drier’, which refer to the change in the quantity and/or presence of water, either as water fluxes or stocks. Play on the middle Sunday, which was done in 1991 for the first time ever.Įxtend play through the third Tuesday, the last possible day before Wimbledon would interfere with other tournaments.Ongoing and future hydroclimatic changes have large environmental and societal impacts. POSSIBLE CHANGES: Reduce men's singles matches from best-of-five to best-of-three until play reaches the quarterfinals. Reduce men's doubles from best-of-five to best-of-three until play reaches the quarterfinals. And yesterday's total wipeout was a full-refund day.Ĭhanges made and options being considered to help deal with the backlog of matches caused by rain at Wimbledon: - CHANGES MADE: Begin play two hours earlier on Centre Court and Court 1 and one hour earlier on the outside courts. After Wednesday's severely limited play, 50 percent refunds were offered to the 30,000-plus fans. "Again," Mills said, "that's another option."Īs for the fans, Wimbledon's policy until recent years was absolutely no refunds or rain-checks. The women play exclusively best-of-three sets already, but could the men's singles be reduced to best-of-three?
They'll almost surely try to play Sunday, as they have done only once before, in '91.Īlso, men's doubles matches until the quarterfinals have been reduced from best-of-five-setters to three-setters. To cope this year, the nearly sacred day off on the middle Sunday has been all-but-officially cancelled. Rain has messed with Wimbledon's scheduled final day 14 times since 1919, but not since 1988 have the singles titles been delayed, and then for only a day. Players are on on stand-by for what Mills calls "spells and windows," where players can dash onto the courts and play beat-the- rain. Today's forecast: Wet, windy and miserable.įor tomorrow: More rain, with possible dry interludes.įor Sunday: Rain early, then, "The rain is expected to peter out, leaving most spots (around London) with some brighter spells and only a few showers." Twenty-six of the 128 women in the singles draw have yet to strike a ball in anger, and six men have not completed their first-rounders. Through the first four days of the tournament, more than half the scheduled matches have been postponed. "Obviously, we've got to press on," said Mills, whose upper lip is so stiff you could spread a linen tablecloth on it and serve afternoon tea. Not to ruin a good panic story, but tennis insiders say it's highly unlikely that the two unions would hardball Wimbledon and impose a Tuesday deadline on the few players who would be involved.įor now, the main problem is inconvenience and boredom, fried nerves and nuked schedules. "Players have other commitments and other tournaments."Īll- England Club officials would embrace whatever extension was necessary, but the men's and women's players' unions would have final say on exactly how long the players would hang around soggy old London town to finish out the world's most prestigious tennis tournament. "That (a week from Tuesday) would probably be a deadline," Mills said. The two-week tournament could be extended beyond the second Sunday, July 6, but tournament chairman Alan Mills said it's not likely action could be extended more than two days.