Wettest winter ever recorded at University of Reading
Release Date 18 February 2014
The University of Reading has experienced the wettest winter since its Atmospheric Observatory started recording rainfall back in 1908.
348 mm of rain has been recorded since 1 December 2013, according to the observer Mike Stroud. This compares to a winter average of just 164 mm, showing that this winter has been more than twice as wet as normal with still eleven days left until the end of February.
Rob Thompson, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, said: "These figures are astonishing and highlight the atrocious weather we've experienced this winter. Most of this rain fell in just nine weeks from mid-December 2013 with the jet stream bringing us a conveyor belt of strong storms.
"We recorded 26 days which had over 5 mm of rain since mid-December, which is more than has been recorded in any other season of the year since records began. Thankfully conditions have settled down a little although there are still signs of further rainfall at times for the rest of February."
Reading University Atmospheric Observatory - Tuesday 18th February 201
- The wettest winters since 1908 are:
o 1989/90: 345 mm
o 1914/15: 328 mm
o 2013/14: 348 mm (with 11 days still to come)
- The only wetter seasons at the University in the past 106 years have occurred in autumn:
o 2000 (353 mm)
o 1974 (352 mm)
o 1960 (349 mm)