As the UK’s run of exceptionally wet and stormy weather continues, the Met Office’s National Climate Information Centre has looked at how the last two months compare in the historical records.
Here’s some facts and figures for the weather we’ve seen through December and January: For the UK For the UK, December was provisionally the equal-fifth wettest December in the national series dating back to 1910 and January was the third wettest January in the same record.
When the two months are combined, it is provisionally the wettest December and January in the series.
There were more days of rain (any day with more than 1mm of rainfall) for the UK in January than for any other month in a series dating back to 1961, with 23 days.
It was the windiest December for the UK in records back to 1969, based on the occurrence of winds in excess 60 kts (69mph).
Looking at the England and Wales Precipitation series, which dates back to 1766, it has been the wettest December to January since 1876/1877 and the 2nd wettest overall in the series.
If narrowed down further to Southern England, there have been very few dry days in this area since December 12 and regional statistics suggest that this is one of, if not the most, exceptional periods of winter rainfall in at least 248 years.
Despite the rainfall being concentrated in the second half of the month it was the wettest December for south east England since 1959.
January was the wettest January for the south England region in the national series dating back to 1910, and the wettest calendar month for the south east region in the same series by a huge margin.
The two-month total of 372.2mm for the southeast and central southern England region is the wettest any 2-month period in the series from 1910 .
From 12th December to 31st January parts of south England recorded over five months worth of rainfall (based on average January rainfall for the region).
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