August rain reaches record levels

This summer could be the wettest ever recorded

England is experiencing its wettest August ever recorded, the BBC weather centre has said.

On average, 120mm of rainfall has fallen across the country since the start of the month, around two-thirds more than normal.

BBC weather forecaster Darren Bett said parts of northern and north-eastern England have also experienced their wettest summer on record.

Other parts of the UK had three times their normal amount of rain, he said.

Several counties across England have recorded their wettest August since records began, including East Anglia, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Northumberland, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

That has also made it the wettest August on record throughout England, beating the previous record set in 1992.

The benchmarks have also been tumbling in Scotland.

Deluge

The BBC's Darren Bett said the town of Leuchars, near Dundee, had recorded over 200mm of rain for August.

That was three times the normal amount the town would receive, he said.

"That amount of rain happens once every 1,000 years," he said.

We may well have the wettest summer ever recorded Darren Bett

While it is not yet the wettest summer since records began in 1922, that record could also fall by the end of the month.

More than 240mm of rain has fallen on average throughout England since the start of June, 17mm short of the record amount.

"So we may well have the wettest summer ever recorded too," our forecaster said.

He said that milestone had already been achieved in eastern and north-eastern England.

The prolonged spells of rain had been caused by the onset of the hurricane season across the Atlantic Ocean late in August.

That came after the arrival earlier in the season of a jet stream stretching further south than usual, which also dumped heavy downpours across England.