Wettest June on record in the UK
Liam Dutton
Weather Presenter
Provisional figures from the Met Office for June show that double the average amount of rain has fallen in the UK, making it the wettest June on record – with records going back to 1910.
Rainfall for the whole of the UK reached 145.3mm which is exactly 200 per cent of the June average.
However, there were notable variations from place to place, with northern England, Northern Ireland and Wales receiving 234 per cent, 235 per cent and 238 per cent of their average June rainfall respectively.
These figures also make it the wettest June on record for Northern Ireland and Wales.
The sheer volume rain has caused numerous problems throughout the month, with areas of low pressure bringing intense rainfall and strong winds that would normally be expected during autumn rather than summer.
Early in June, a large-scale rescue operation was mounted near Aberystwyth in Wales when a month’s worth of rain fell in a day at Trawsgoed, Ceredigion.
Around 150 people were trapped by rising flood waters when the River Lery burst its banks and had to be taken to safety by helicopter.
The month ended much as it began when a number of severe thunderstorms hit the Midlands and northern England causing flash floods.
Train services were severely disrupted between Scotland and England after landslips and fallen trees blocked rail lines
Huge hailstones approaching the size of golf balls lashed the Midlands with some vehicles suffering heavy damage and the threat of being written off by insurers.
Torrents of rain turned streets and pavements into rivers after 20-30mm of rain fell in an hour with the drainage systems unable to cope.
It’s not just the rainfall that has been remarkable. This June has also been the second dullest June on record with just 119.2 hours of sunshine, narrowly missing out on the record of 115.4 hours set in 1987. It has also been the coolest since 1991.
The wet weather has been down to the position of the jet stream. Normally at this time of year it sits to the north west of the UK taking the rain-bearing weather systems towards Iceland and Scandinavia.
However, for the past few months, it’s largely been sitting to the south of the UK allowing a conveyor belt of wet and windy weather to move in from the Atlantic Ocean.
Whilst it may be a new month, July has picked up where June left off. More wet and breezy weather is expected during the next few days.