Met Office: SIGNIFICANT WEATHER EVENT will hit UK in days as HUGE Atlantic storm ROARS in

reply to post by Korg Trinity


What you see outside your window could not be less relevant. This is a situation which has been in the making for two months, so it is the prevailing weather over that period which is important, not the colour of the sky in your area at any given moment.

Personally, i am thinking the Environment Agency have been doing, by and large, a bloody good job. Things like low levels of sandbags have clearly let them down but aside from that, they have been highly successful in preventing far more properties from flooding. Of course, the media will give them no credit for that.

Things like dredging are a tricky issue. In places like the Somerset Levels, dredging will certainly help - to a point. However, dredging increases the depth of the river and is far more useful for keeping rivers navigable than for helping with flooding. A dredged river will have a higher throughput of water but there is a limit - with the level of rain there, there is actually nowhere for the water to go.

We really need to be more realistic. It isn't what people want to hear but at the end of the day, if you build on a flood plain then you expect floods. It is that simple. People have absolutely no excuse for not knowing that either - unless they officially have a lower mental capacity.

Basically, this post is just as a pat on the back and a thank you to the Environment Agency for ensuring that hundres of thousands more homes haven't been flooded. Well done chaps, keep up the good work.

reply to post by Korg Trinity

It is being reported that some areas have experienced the highest rainfall for 250 years.

www.theguardian.com...

The deluge that has engulfed southern and central England in recent weeks is the worst winter downpour in almost 250 years, according to figures from the world's longest-running weather station.

The rainfall measured at the historic Radcliffe Meteorological Station at Oxford University in January was greater than for any winter month since daily recording began there in 1767, and three times the average amount.

The BBC reporter has just used those word..."unprecedented natural disaster"...we've heard that before. Winds of 108 miles and hour on the WElsh coast. I'm in north east Scotland, so well away from the worst of it, but it's still bad here, very windy and heavy sleet, and the lights are flickering. Once all this rainfall works it's way down the Thames, I don't see how London *can't* flood.

Some stats, maps and graphs.

Environment Agency





99 percentile rainfall
The above graphic shows the frequency of what climate averages tell us should be roughly 1 in 100 day heavy rainfall events in each year. Over time, this gives a view of the frequency of ‘extreme’ rainfall.

Article from 2013 about 2012 weather. It will be even more interesting when the 2014 stats are added.

www.metoffice.gov.uk...

Preliminary research from the Met Office also suggests we may have seen a change in the nature of the rain we get, with 'extreme' daily rainfall becoming more frequent.

An analysis of 1 in 100 day rainfall events since 1960 indicates these 'extreme' days of rainfall may have become more frequent over time.

Professor Julia Slingo, Chief Scientist at the Met Office, said: "The trend towards more extreme rainfall events is one we are seeing around the world, in countries such as India and China, and now potentially here in the UK. Much more research is needed to understand more about the causes and potential implications.

"It's essential we look at how this may impact our rainfall patterns going forward over the next decade and beyond, so we can advise on the frequency of extreme weather in the future and the potential for more surface and river flooding. This will help inform decision-making about the need for future resilience both here in the UK and globally."

Changes in sea surface temperatures due to natural cycles and reducing amounts of Arctic sea-ice could be influencing the increase in rainfall, but more research needs to be done before anyone can establish how big a role they play.

Increasing global temperatures may be another factor. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and we have seen an increase of about 0.7 °C in global temperatures since pre-industrial times.

From basic physics, this would equate to about a 4% increase in moisture in the atmosphere which means there is a greater potential for heavy rain.

Anyone up for a bit of fracking? Lets just carry on Cameron and all end up in a giant sink hole!!!

reply to post by happinness


Luckily the recent sinkhole on the M2 was in the central reservation. And I say no to fracking.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

reply to post by theabsolutetruth


The sink holes don't give any warning either. I believe and I hate to say this that the next thing will be landslides.
They keep blaming the weather, but at the end of the day if the rivers had been dredged regularly, it certainly would have helped. The water has to go somewhere and considering we are surrounded by water and underneath us is a honey comb net work of tunnels and under ground springs what chance do with have with this incompetent government?
As usual no one is bothered until it affects them!


hx

reply to post by happinness


There have been many landslides near here in recent years, including coastal landslides.

www.bbc.co.uk...

Over the last 14 months there has been a five-fold increase in reported landslides in the UK, scientists say.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) has over 16,000 records of landscapes, used to compare variations over time.

In one month alone - December 2012 - there were 75 UK landslides, compared with a typical annual average of 60.

The link between heavy rainfall in 2012 and landslides in the same period was reported at the British Science Festival in Newcastle.

"We saw significant increases, particularly in July 2012," said Dr Helen Reeves of the BGS. Extreme weather seems responsible for a huge increase in slope destabilisation, following changes in water loading in the rocks and soils of saturated land, she reported.

The Met Office has released the annual rainfall data for 2012, the second wettest year on record.

Dr Reeves explained how comparing this with the reports of landslides in the same period it appears that about two fifths of the landslide events happened in soil and rock near the surface soon after a short burst of heavy rainfall, but the build up of rainfall over the two months preceding a landslide seems responsible for the deeper landslides making up the remaining three fifths.

theabsolutetruth
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

It is being reported that some areas have experienced the highest rainfall for 250 years.

www.theguardian.com...

The deluge that has engulfed southern and central England in recent weeks is the worst winter downpour in almost 250 years, according to figures from the world's longest-running weather station.

The rainfall measured at the historic Radcliffe Meteorological Station at Oxford University in January was greater than for any winter month since daily recording began there in 1767, and three times the average amount.

Whilst this is true, my rainfall, in Evesham this winter, is less than I recorded in May and June 2007. And my rainfall, so far this year, in Evesham, is the same as I recorded on one day in July 2007.

That was when we experienced our worst ever floods. Although we're between the Severn and the Thames, both experiencing record floods atm, the Avon is at it's normal winter levels.

It's been wet. It's been wetter.

reply to post by AndyMayhew


I recall the 'flood day' in 2007 where it just rained torrential rain non stop all day, there was a lot of flooding in this area, many houses weren't livable in for years after.

I walked to my sons school, about 3/4 a mile and was utterly drenched to the skin despite wearing wellingtons and supposedly waterproof clothing, within minutes.

The roads were a foot high with water, more in places by midday. My neighbours at the time, on a very long road, got flooded due to the camber of the road dipping lower, luckily we didn't flood. All day they tried bailing their garages and front doors, every time a car went past they flooded again.

Some places here were in 4ft high floods, whole Victorian rows of houses flooded, people stranded at work, all sorts. That was some day!

I hate the weather now...Footie got cancelled .

If I see one more HAARP/Chemtrail related post on my Facebook wall (from local friends too, not the usual tinfoil hat brigade), I'm going to be very very annoyed.....it's my 34th birthday today and so far I have waited in all morning for a gas man that never turned up, spent half the day tying the drainpipe securely to the wall, and now I am ready for a beer I have to go out in 100mph winds and torrential rain to the Co-op.

I am a very annoyed Woogle.


How is everyone else on this lovely warm evening?

reply to post by woogleuk


Happy Birthday!!!

reply to post by boymonkey74


Cheers Monk, well, here goes nothing.....to the co-op I go....wish me luck, if I don't return, tell my Pomeranian I love him and not to eat too many ankles in my absence.

AndyMayhew

theabsolutetruth
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

It is being reported that some areas have experienced the highest rainfall for 250 years.

www.theguardian.com...

The deluge that has engulfed southern and central England in recent weeks is the worst winter downpour in almost 250 years, according to figures from the world's longest-running weather station.

The rainfall measured at the historic Radcliffe Meteorological Station at Oxford University in January was greater than for any winter month since daily recording began there in 1767, and three times the average amount.

Whilst this is true, my rainfall, in Evesham this winter, is less than I recorded in May and June 2007. And my rainfall, so far this year, in Evesham, is the same as I recorded on one day in July 2007.

That was when we experienced our worst ever floods. Although we're between the Severn and the Thames, both experiencing record floods atm, the Avon is at it's normal winter levels.

It's been wet. It's been wetter.

More rain from Friday 12am through to Saturday 12pm according to skynews weather and it will be heavy for 4 of those 12 hours!¬

I've just seen the news and a few houses have gone off the cliffs into the sea!

woogleuk
If I see one more HAARP/Chemtrail related post on my Facebook wall (from local friends too, not the usual tinfoil hat brigade), I'm going to be very very annoyed.....it's my 34th birthday today and so far I have waited in all morning for a gas man that never turned up, spent half the day tying the drainpipe securely to the wall, and now I am ready for a beer I have to go out in 100mph winds and torrential rain to the Co-op.

I am a very annoyed Woogle.


How is everyone else on this lovely warm evening?

Sorry to say that I got my beer in from the Co-op this morning. NE London very soggy at the moment. Epping Forest needs to be renamed Epping Mire.

reply to post by woogleuk


Happy Birthday Woogle!! hx

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR WOOGLE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU"

Love & Light x

LMAO, thanks all...

You know what I love about living in the North....

Hurricane winds, sideways rain, yet at 10pm of a night time the kids at the local school still go out for a game of football!

Just filmed this on my phone on the way back from the co-op, it doesn't sound as bad as it is...very windy.