Summer 2012 likely to be wettest in 100 years

Between 1 June and 29 August, 366.8mm of rain fell across the UK. Whilst this figure will increase slightly when rainfall from the final two days of August is taken into account, it’s very unlikely that this will be enough to beat the wettest summer on record – 1912 when 384.4mm rain fell.

After a large swathe of England was officially placed in drought by the Environment Agency back in the spring, there were concerns that the situation would worsen if there was a shortage of rainfall during the summer months.

However, April and June ended up being the wettest respective months on record, with July and August continuing to see heavy rain, strong winds and flooding dominate the headlines.

Not only has summer 2012 been wet, it has also been the dullest in more than 20 years. Summer 1980 was the last time that the UK experienced less sunshine than this summer.

The cause of the unsettled weather across the UK for much of this summer has been the position of the jet stream which determines where rain-bearing weather systems go.

Normally in the summer months, the jet stream sits to the north west of the UK steering areas of low pressure towards Iceland and Scandinavia, allowing high pressure to build and bring warmth and sunshine.

However, for long periods of summer 2012, the jet stream has been stuck to the south of the UK which has meant low pressure has brought frequent bouts of heavy rain and strong winds.

Whilst this has meant a disappointing summer, it has vastly reduced the drought problems, with water resources improving vastly on what they were just a few months ago.

There are signs that the beginning of September will see a spell of quieter weather for a time as high pressure builds across the UK, before it turns more unsettled again towards the middle of the month.