It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week
In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end.
With more than 100 flood warnings in force across the country and further downpours forecast this week, scientists say the atmospheric forces behind Britain’s endless drizzle are the same ones driving devastating floods across Spain and Portugal.
Severe Flooding, Against a Background of Wind Turbines: November 2012, Tyringham, Bucks. (Image: T. Larkum)
How bad is the rain across the UK?
Northern Ireland has recorded its wettest January in 149 years according to the UK Met Office, while southern England has endured its sixth wettest January since records began in 1836. Rainfall in the south-west was 56% above the long‑term average, rising to 88% above average across the south-east and central southern England.
North Wyke in Devon, Cardinham in Cornwall and Astwood Bank in Worcestershire have recorded rain every day so far this year, the Met Office said on Monday.
Jess Neumann, a hydrologist at the University of Reading, said: “It’s been a miserable and relentlessly wet start to the year for many across the UK.” The commuter town near London has had its longest unbroken spell of rainfall since records began more than a century ago.
“It seems hard to remember that only a few months ago, large parts of the UK were experiencing drought and hosepipe bans.”
Read more: The Guardian
