UK winter not a record breaker despite floods and storms

If you have been hit by relentless rain and flooding this winter you might well be expecting the weather to have broken some records.

Provisional statistics from the Met Office show that is not the case, with rainfall so far this season just 9% above average for the UK as a whole - wet, but far from the wettest.

However those national figures mask huge regional variations. Some counties in southern England are on course for their second-wettest winter on record, while much of north-west Scotland has been significantly drier than normal.

It is largely down to a blocked weather pattern that sent rain into the same parts of the country repeatedly for much of the winter and left others predominantly dry.

The Met Office has looked at the data up until 25 February which shows that southern England has already had its seventh-wettest winter since records began in 1836.

Meteorological winter runs until the end of February - so that figure may change with more rain in the forecast for the end of the season.

Winter brought four named storms - Bram, Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra.

Storm Bram brought widespread impacts but was described by the Met Office as a "notable but not exceptional Atlantic winter storm".

Storm Goretti was a different story.

Its most significant impacts were felt in the far south-west of England where it was one of the most impactful storms to affect Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in decades. A rare Met Office red warning was issued triggering an emergency alert to be sent to thousands of mobile phones.

A wind gust of 99mph (159km/h) recorded at St Mary's was the highest wind speed recorded in the Isles of Scilly for 47 years.

Julie Luscombe from Redruth, Cornwall, explained to BBC Your Voice that winds picked up suddenly and caused damage to her home.

"Almost immediately it went from silence to all my fences being taken down.

"The tiles and the bathroom roof were literally lifting up and slamming back down - it was just so quick".

Harry Williams was in Sennen, Cornwall as Storm Goretti hit.

He told BBC Your Voice "I'm used to a storm or two but I would say that was the worst I've seen in 30 years.

"There was an hour where I was apprehensive, and I'm a surfer so I'm used to putting myself in danger".

Heavy persistent rain was another feature of the storm, bringing flooding in parts of southern England.

Significant snow covered parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England as the storm bumped into cold air.

Storm Ingrid and Storm Chandra then hit the south and south-west of the UK in the space of less than a week, adding to the flooding problems and bringing disruption to road and rail transport.

The wet weather has also affected bee populations. Somerset-based beekeeper James Lowe told the BBC that the rain since Christmas has affected moisture levels inside his hives.

"Moisture is a killer for bees...I think it's fair to say that every beekeeper has had a greater number of losses this year. I'd normally expect around 10%, but this year I'm up around nearly 30."

England overall has had 35% more rainfall than it would expect in a typical winter, with Northern Ireland 25% wetter than normal and Wales 14% above its usual rainfall figure.

But Scotland has actually had 16% less rainfall than in a normal winter - despite some parts of the east being very wet indeed.

These variations in rainfall can largely be explained by a so-called blocked weather pattern which left our weather stuck in a rut for most of January and February.

The jet stream sent areas of low pressure spinning in from the Atlantic, but their progress was blocked by an area of high pressure that became slow-moving across Scandinavia.

That kept the UK in a feed of south-easterly winds, meaning relentless rain for areas exposed to those winds such as southern England and eastern Scotland - while keeping sheltered areas like western Scotland and north-west England drier than they would normally expected.

That is why some places experienced seemingly relentless rain - including 55 consecutive wet days at Cardinham in Cornwall - while others were left wondering what all the fuss was about.

Sunshine was in short supply - as people in Aberdeen will confirm.

The city spent three weeks under grey skies in the midst of what looks to have been Scotland's fifth dullest winter since 1910.

Things were a little brighter for some places further south in the UK, but overall the country has only seen 80% of the sunshine it would expect in an average winter.

Temperatures have been above average overall but there were colder interludes and some places have seen significant snow.

Ski resorts in Scotland say they have had their best season in years.

It is proof that even as the climate warms overall there will still be short-term spells of cold winter weather.

Our winters are already getting warmer and wetter.

According to the Met Office, UK winters have already warmed by 1C (1.8F) since the 1950s due to human-induced global warming.

Six of the ten warmest winters on record have occurred since the year 2000, with only one 21st century winter (2009/2010) featuring in the top ten coldest.

This means we are seeing less snow and fewer frosts - in fact we now get around four weeks less ground frost than we did half a century ago.

However, one thing we are seeing more of is rain.

Out of nearly 260 years of records, six out of the ten wettest winter half-years - the period from October to March - have been since the year 2000.

These changes are predicted to continue as the world keeps warming.

In a situation where high levels of greenhouse gas emissions continue, the Met Office expects winters to be between 1 and 4.5C (1.8-8.1F) warmer than they were in 1990 - and up to 30% wetter.

That is because a warmer atmosphere is able to hold more moisture, so when rain comes it will be heavier and more intense.