weather

The UK must make “difficult choices” between protecting towns or countryside from future flooding according to Environment Agency boss, Lord Smith.

Lord Smith argued that there was no “bottomless purse” for flood defences and that current guidance which gives priority to lives and homes “involves tricky issues of policy and priority: town or country, front rooms or farmland?”

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February is expected to begin as January ended... wet and windy!

As if we hadn't seen enough of the rain, forecasters say there is more to come for at least the next five days.

The Met Office forecast up to Wednesday is as follows:

Sunday:

A mixture of sunny spells and some showers, these may be heavy at times, and perhaps thundery with some hail possible....

Another storm is on its way to the South West today with forecasters predicting heavy rain and wind to hit the region over the weekend.

A further area of heavy rain and strong gale force wind will spread eastwards across the UK bringing around 40 mm on some high ground in the southwest of England.

Winds will increase on Saturday, with gusts widely to 50 to 60 mph, and perhaps...

Early Met Office statistics for January 2014 show that the southeast and central southern England region has already had its wettest January in records going back to 1910, with three days still to go.

A large area of southern England from East Devon to Kent and inland across parts of the midlands has already seen twice the average rainfall for the month.

Southeast and central...

Forecasters are warning that further heavy rain is due to hit Devon at 9pm tonight (Monday 27 January) and remain until late on Tuesday (28 January).

The Met Office warns that frequent showers, some heavy, will bring a further 10-15 mm of rainwater into the region with the risk of up to 40 mm of rain on some areas of high ground.

The rain brings the risk of even further...

Forecasters are warnng of possible icy patches again tomorrow morning as temperatures dip.

And if you thought you'd seen the last of the rain, think again.

Bookmakers William Hill cut the odds of 2014 being the wettest year on record from 8/1 to 6/1.

Yesterday the Environment Agency said 148 flood alerts and 11 more serious flood warnings were in place.

Somerset...

After a Christmas and New Year period that saw Britain battered by high winds, lashing rain and storm waves believed to be amongst the most extreme in living memory, many of the UK’s beaches have been left strewn with huge amounts of litter.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the annual Beachwatch Big Weekend in September when thousands of people clean and survey...

Further flooding is possible tomorrow as the Met Office issue yet another weather warning for in Devon.

Bands of rain are expected to move eastwards across southwest England during Fridaywith up to 20mm of rain expected across most of Devon

With the ground saturated over much of the region, the met office has asked people to be aware of the risk of further local flooding and...

Outbreaks of heavy rain spreading slowly eastwards across South West England are likely to hit Devon from 3pm this

later in the day before clearing away east in the early hours of Wednesday.

The Met Office has warned that with the ground remaining saturated, people should be aware of the risk of further localised flooding within the warning area.

The rain is also...

The risk of extreme versions of the El Niño weather phenomenon will double over the coming decades due to global warming, new research has shown.

The frequency of ‘extreme El Niños’ could see a twofold increase as the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean warms faster than the surrounding regions.

The last major events in 1982-3 and 1997-98, when sea surface temperatures exceeding...