Flood warnings as Britain is divided by the weather

[depakid]

Much of Britain has been getting heavy rain and flooding throughout the last year.

Yet in 2006, water rationing and standpipes were being threatened.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2182070,00.htm
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Goes to show, it's damn hard to figure what we're in for....



People across the north of England and the Midlands were braced for renewed flooding yesterday as rising river levels prompted the evacuation of houses, the closure of roads and severe disruption to rail travel.

In Shropshire, Yorkshire and the North-east, rivers swelled to bursting point as a fresh band of rain fell. The new threat follows two days of erratic weather in which the South has been unseasonably mild and wet while the North has endured cold winds and rain.

As the Met Office issued severe weather warnings for northern England, heavy rain and high winds were also likely to affect Northern Ireland. The Met Office said northern England had suffered its wettest January since 1995 and the seventh wettest start to the year since records began.

The Environment Agency issued more than 100 flood warnings and 15 severe flood warnings, 12 in the North-east alone. In Yorkshire, severe flood warnings were in place in Huddersfield, Wakefield, and Skipton. The Environment Agency issued severe warnings for the river Severn at Shrewsbury.

Forecasters are predicting more rain for the next two days and a continuation of the bizarre climactic conditions that have seen towns as far north as Blackpool enjoying unseasonably mild temperatures of 10C while Newcastle shivered in near-freezing temperatures.

More: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/flood-warnings-as-britain-is-divided-by-the-weather-771701.html

[greenman3610]

1. paradoxically, both flood and drought

as the climate warms, more moisture is drawn out of
lakes, rivers and oceans, as well as baked out of soils.
the additional moisture tends more and more to
come out in large precipitative events, which are
on the increase, even as droughts and heat waves become
more frequent and intense.

These events cannot, of course, be attributed solely to climate change, but they are in line with the pattern that we can expect in the long term: severe storms, more heavy rainfall and a greater tendency towards flooding,....

—Prof. Peter Höppe, Head of Munich Re Geo Risks Research