26/07/2007

May, June and July 'wettest months on record'

May, June and July have been the wettest months on record, even before July is over, the Met Office has revealed.

Provisional figures from the Met Office show that 387.6mm of rain have already fallen across England and Wales, making it the wettest May to July since records began in 1766.

England and Wales have suffered extensive flooding from the exceptionally heavy rainfall experienced in June and July.

The extreme rainfall in June, where 103.1mm of rain felly at Fylingdales, North Yorkshire was followed by a similar event in July when Pershore College in Worcestershire recorded 120.8mm of rain on July 20. Both events resulted in extensive flooding across parts of England and Wales, which have ruined the homes of thousands of people, leaving them without power supplies and no drinking water.

Recent Met Office research undertaken in partnership with Environment Canada has shown, for the first time, a link between human activity and global rainfall patterns.

Peter Stott, climate scientist at the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: "This latest study can not make the link between climate change and what we have experienced so far this summer. However, with a warmer climate there could be an increase in extreme rainfall events despite the expected general trend toward drier summers."

(KMcA/SP)

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