Does it rain more now than it used to? Say 20/30 years ago.

[Thankyou4calling]

I know we get deluges now but my recollection is that we always have.

Has rainfall increased markedly in the South East in the last 20 or 30 years?

Thanks.

[curlie467]

Nope.

[GappySmeg]

Quick sample of Met Office data for SE England shows average yearly rainfall for each decade as:
70s: 553mm
80s: 551mm
90s: 534mm
00s: 636mm
10s: 651mm

So, looks like this century has got wetter.

Source: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/pub/data/weather/uk/c...

[Pothole]

Less than a cm a month on average? Hardly a noticeable increase.

[kambites]

Yes, but not massively so:

[UpTheIron]

Surprised at that... Taking those figures at face value it's a significant change.

[anonymous-user]

3 towns local to me have now suffered serious flooding 3 times in the past 12 years, and previous to that they haven't flooded since the last flood in the 1960's, and the levels involved in the recent floods were significantly higher than the 60's flood.

Weather seems to be becoming more extreme.

According to the met office: "the UK is getting more rain in total over time, and in more intense bursts"

[Thankyou4calling]

The reason I asked was because the roads near me flood very easily now but it’s my belief ( borne out by the figures) it has little to do with the volume or distribution of rain and all to do with building on previous green and brownfield sites and poor maintenance of drains. [url]

This is a drain on a main road into London today. The road floods at the merest sign of shower and people then believe it’s because the rain fall is heavy.

There’s just nowhere for it to go.

|https://thumbsnap.com/RERlyKqL[/url]

[Pothole]

Lord Marylebone said:

3 towns local to me have now suffered serious flooding 3 times in the past 12 years, and previous to that they haven't flooded since the last flood in the 1960's, and the levels involved in the recent floods were significantly higher than the 60's flood.

Weather seems to be becoming more extreme.

According to the met office: "the UK is getting more rain in total over time, and in more intense bursts"

someone above said:

Quick sample of Met Office data for SE England shows average yearly rainfall for each decade as:
70s: 553mm
80s: 551mm
90s: 534mm
00s: 636mm
10s: 651mm

Building on green field sites and people making drives out of gardens plays a big role, I reckon.

[mike74]

As someone who has worked outdoors for the last 20+ years I'd say yes it seems to have got wetter... there was a time when I'd get truly pissed wet through maybe once every 2 months and I'd have to change in to my spare set of clothes for my commute home, now I seem to be doing it more like once a fortnight.

[bongtom]

You ain't seen rain until you see tropical monsoon rain in SE Asia!

[anonymous-user]

When I was a child in the 80's I remember 'Hosepipe bans'....

Remember those? Don't think we have had one here since the 90's.

Could be better water management I suppose?

[TooMany2cvs]

kambites said:

Yes, but not massively so:

UpTheIron said:

Surprised at that... Taking those figures at face value it's a significant change.

If you're looking at kambites' graph, then look at where zero is(n't) on the Y axis.

[grumbledoak]

You cannot base any conclusions on perceived flooding or hosepipe bans; both are very dependent on our own management of water. We used to dredge rivers, we used to have gardens, we used to have massive water leakage rates, etc...

[GT03ROB]

Lord Marylebone said:

3 towns local to me have now suffered serious flooding 3 times in the past 12 years, and previous to that they haven't flooded since the last flood in the 1960's, and the levels involved in the recent floods were significantly higher than the 60's flood.

As development continues, the speed at which rainwater is channeled into natural watercourses accelerates. where once water would just soak into the ground & slowly make it's way there, it is now run off from roads & other hardstandings straight into the drainage network where it gets to the same watercourses in a fraction of the time. Unless those are expanded they will overflow & flood.

[TooMany2cvs]

grumbledoak said:

You cannot base any conclusions on perceived flooding or hosepipe bans; both are very dependent on our own management of water. We used to dredge rivers, we used to have gardens, we used to have massive water leakage rates, etc...

We used to have floodplains around rivers... which are now housing estates...

[GetCarter]

I have rainfall figures going back to 2000 from here. Roughly the same, but the last two years have seen significantly less rain.

(NW Highlands)

[red_slr]

Lord Marylebone said:

When I was a child in the 80's I remember 'Hosepipe bans'....

Remember those? Don't think we have had one here since the 90's.

Could be better water management I suppose?

2006 and 2012 were 2 large bans.

[grumpy52]

We had the classic of a local councillor saying he would request an explination from the water company about the increased flooding in the area of town next to the three newbuild estates that he as part of the planning committee had allowed to be built .