England has recorded its wettest January since records began, with the historic Radcliffe Meteorological Station at Oxford University reporting rainfall three times the average for the month. The station, which has been recording daily measurements since 1767, measured 146.9mm of rain in January, surpassing the previous record of 138.7mm set in 1852. This also makes it the wettest winter month—December, January, or February—ever recorded, beating December 1914's total of 143.3mm.
The deluge has primarily affected southern and central England, with the region from Devon to Kent and into the Midlands experiencing its wettest January since the Met Office's records began in 1910. Ian Ashpole, the Radcliffe Meteorological Observer, noted that the station's longer dataset provides a better understanding of climatic changes. The 45-day period from 18 December also saw a record 231.28mm of rain, demolishing the previous high of 209.4mm from December 1914.
Flooding has been identified as the most dangerous impact of climate change for the UK, hitting harder and faster than expected. Thousands of homes have been flooded since December, with large areas of the Somerset Levels still underwater. The Environment Agency issued five severe flood warnings, indicating danger to life, in parts of the south-west and the Midlands, along with 156 standard flood warnings. Only the north-east region remained unaffected.
Met Office forecaster Callum MacColl warned that the relentless storms are set to continue, with more wet and windy weather expected from the Atlantic. The 15-day outlook suggests the unsettled theme will persist. Andrew Barrett, a storm expert at the University of Reading, explained that a 'storm factory' over the Atlantic, caused by cold polar air meeting warm tropical air, is driving the weather systems, which are then steered across Britain by a strong jet stream. Scientists are investigating whether Arctic ice melt due to global warming is causing the jet stream to track further south, funnelling more storms towards the UK.
