2012 was the second wettest year on record in the UK and the wettest ever in England according to the Met Office.
The downpours that caused more than 8,000 UK homes and businesses to suffer flooding led to a total of 1,330.7mm of rain for the year, just 6.6mm short of the wettest UK year recorded in 2000 (1337.3mm).
Analysis by the Met Office suggests that the UK may be getting increasingly wetter as climate change causes warmer air to carry more water. Days of extreme rainfall – downpours expected once every 100 days – occurred every 70 days in 2012.
It is not just wet weather that is bringing new challenges but devastating drought in America, Australia and Russia during 2012 suggests that more “regular extremes” are the new normal climate pattern. All of these developments indicate that our global weather is certainly getting worse – an issue covered in this recent Channel 4 documentary which is really worth watching:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/is-our-weather-getting-worse/4od
Gardeners all over the UK have really struggled with water logged soil and lack of sunlight which made 2012 one of the worst years for growing vegetables in the garden http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/weather_flooding.shtml
On a larger scale, unpredictable weather patterns as a result of climate change have huge implications for global food production and prices.
January 11th, 2013 at 6:21 pm
Lets hope we have a better 2013. Although its starting off on the damp side!