Wettest June on record

This article, published on the 30th June 2007, reports that it has been the wettest June on record in England. Also, this article explains the damage caused by the recent weather events and the impacts that this could have.

I have been looking through the Met Office's monthly summaries for the last few months.

• April 2007 was the warmest April since 1943, the driest April since 1980 and the sunniest April since 1942


• May 2007 was the wettest May since 1967


• June 2007 has proved to be the wettest June on record with 134.5mm of rainfall, the second wettest being in 1980 with 121.2mm

So why has June 2007 been so wet? The UK's weather has partly been attributed to the La Nina system, which has lead to areas of warm water developing in the western Pacific, making the ocean surrounding Australia warmer than usual. This has a different impact on weather systems across the world. It is helping to change patterns for us by driving the Atlantic jetstream a bit lower than normal. This means that instead of low pressure being driven towards Iceland, it is coming towards the UK which has become the focus for areas of rain. Why not take a look at the BBC's explanation and, in particular, the weather maps?