Whether this Weather means climate change....

Well it's been wet and I've been away in 'the country'. Actually it's been pretty bloomin wet for well over a week now but the past couple of days in and around the Midlands/North of England have been truly exceptional. I've had a little pause to digest what this all means and is it the sort of weather we should start to be expecting more of in the UK and how it will affect us if we are as many believe starting to see 'climate change'

For those in parts of the country that haven't had it quite so bad or are reading this blog from outside the UK I'll try to put some perspective on the recent deluges. Seasonally we regularly have wet patches throughout our so called 'Summer'. So much so that at the start of Wimbledon and the annual hippie madness of music known as Glastonbury everyone packs wellies and brollies. It's the norm, it's always damp then as they call this the 'Green and pleasant land' we get a dose of sunshine and everything ticks along nicely.

What we have just experienced is very much not the norm, in fact if it becomes the normal weather cycle we could be in for a bit of a problem. According to the UK environment agency and corroborated by the UK meteorological office experienced a total of roughly a sixth of the total annual rainfall this island normally receives in 24hrs but not spread across the country as a whole but confined to roughly a third of it. The resulting flooding has been pretty bad but luckily considering the deluges nowhere near as bad as it could have been, dams so far have held up and although in many areas there has been considerable damage and several lives lost the contingency plans that have been in place since 2005 have sort of worked.

Now unfortunately since the last bad flooding where considerably less rain fell the government where obliged to spend considerably more on flood defences or the insurance companies would refuse to insure properties and businesses in areas that may be at risk. This would have resulted in problems with the economy as businesses where forced to relocate and many homes would have been left empty as uninsurable causing even more problems economically. The government has spent but not as much as promised or required to the tune of a £15 million shortfall and even more is earmarked to be spent in subsequent years. This also was based on flood calculations before the recent deluge which has highlighted how much rain 'could' fall in 24hrs.

I remember after the terrible flooding in America of New Orleans it being revealed money earmarked for flood defence hadn't been forthcoming which could have affected the structural integrity of the levies and perhaps saving many lives if it had been spent properly and not spent on other government initiatives such as fighting wars.......

The rainfall itself was caused by 'unprecedented' low pressure over the UK resulting in the normal rain bands that would be out in the Atlantic being diverted over us as we would normally have high enough pressure over us at this time of year to act as a buffer as such. In fact the rest of Europe does have this high pressure and is having quite a little heat wave. The rain bands are also very slow moving and therefore had plenty of time to 'dump their load' .

So to conclude we are a bit in trouble if this starts to happen on a regular basis and despite the fact I live on a hill I am still concerned enough to check my local flood plains and flood risk which should this happen a lot I will in effect be in a little hilly island surrounded by floods, dry but stranded..... (see map above). But at least I can get insurance!