From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

Last year was a wet one in England & Wales, the 7th wettest on record. (The UK series has a similar result).

We routinely hear claims that the climate is wetter because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, (while also being told we will get more droughts!). However the fact that we have had similarly wet years in the distant past, such as 1768, 1852, 1872, 1877, 1882, 1903 and 1960, rather demolishes that argument.

The major factor behind last year’s high rainfall was that the number of rain days was also one of the highest on record since 1931, when Met Office daily data begins. In short, annual rainfall was high because of weather, not climate.

The daily rainfall data also strongly indicated persistence rather than extreme rainfall. Only day exceeded 20mm, and there are no long term trends. That solitary day was during Storm Babet, when 22.76 fell.

October was the wettest month with 177.6mm, and was the first and only month since 2014 to exceed 170mm. Again, there was nothing unusual at all about this

One particular thing intrigued me, and this was the comparison with 1960, when there were some truly dreadful floods throughout the autumn – certainly much worse than anything we saw in 2023.

On an annual basis, the two years were indistinguishable, 1195mm in 1960 and 1195mm last year.

But a monthly comparison reveals that 1960 was notably drier in March and April. Between August and November, however, 1960 was 14% wetter.