UK battered by a month's rain in first 10 days of August
10 August 2021, 15:41
The UK was hit with a month's worth of rainfall in the first 10 days of August, the Met Office has said.
Around 46mm fell in Greater London, which usually sees 53mm in the whole of August, while West Sussex saw 98 per cent of its average rainfall for the month.
Areas in the south east and Surrey also had up to 85 per cent of their total rainfall for August in just over a week.
On average, the country usually sees around 89mm of rain in August. However, almost 40 per cent of that total has already fallen - 10 per cent more than expected.
Despite this, some areas have been drier than usual, such as parts of west Scotland and eastern areas in England, the Met Office said.
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Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesman, said: "August has essentially been a case of mixed fortune with some areas seeing drier weather than usual, while others have virtually had a whole month of rainfall in just 10 days.
"We're not expecting to see record-breaking weather, as there have certainly been wetter Augusts in the past but many areas have faced a very wet and intense period of rain.
"We are putting this down to an area of low pressure which is moving slowly across the country bringing the damp conditions many have seen."
Mr Madge also warned that there could be a few outbreaks of rain in Northern Ireland and Scotland as the week progresses.
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It comes as extreme weather conditions have caused problems across the country in recent months.
There have been heatwaves and flash flooding in what London Mayor Sadiq Khan has labelled as a sign that "the dangers of climate change are now moving closer to home".
The UN warned in their latest climate report, that there could be an increased intensity of heatwaves, rainstorms and flooding, and droughts in some regions if temperatures continued to rise around the world.
Governments from around the world will be gathering in November for the Cop26 climate summit to discuss the crisis.
