Wettest February

LAST MONTH SAW RECORD-BREAKING RAINFALL

LAST month was the wettest February in more than 150 years.

The three major storms that crossed the UK during February - Ciara, Dennis and Jorge - lead to 209mm of rain being measured across the UK, the highest level recorded since 1862, when the Met Office started collecting the data.

According to the figures, that year there was only 32mm of rain.

The second rainiest February on record was in 1990, when 193mm of rain was recorded, while in 2002 there was 175mm, making it the third-rainiest February.

Last month was the wettest February for England (155mm), Wales (288mm) and Northern Ireland (223mm), but the secondwettest for Scotland (276mm), behind February 1990 (289mm).

It has also been the fifth-wettest of any calendar month since 1862, only behind October 1903 (227mm), December 2015 (217mm), November 2009 (215mm), and December 1929 (213mm).

John Curtin, Executive Director for Flood Risk Management at the Environment Agency said: “Record February rainfall and river levels have tested the nation’s flood defences; however we have been able to protect over 80,000 homes thanks to the action we have taken.

“Every flooded home is a personal tragedy, and with a changing climate we will need to become more resilient to flooding.

“I’d urge the public to be aware of their flood risk, sign up to flood warnings, and make a flood plan if they are at risk.”

The extremely strong and cold air coming from the Arctic was pushed further south than usual, bringing one Atlantic storm after another.

As a consequence, storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge contributed to the heavy rainfall and strong winds throughout the month.

Data also shows this winter (December, January, February) has been the fifth-wettest winter on record for the UK, as well as the fifth-mildest.

Since 1998, the Met Office has recorded six of the ten wettest years on record, but the agency said it can’t link the rainfall patterns to climate change with absolute confidence.

In the UK, there has always been a large range of natural variation from year to year, which makes it more difficult to identify long term trends.

However, the wetter winters we are seeing are consistent with what the Met Office expects to happen in the future with continued climate change.