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Wettest summer on record
DEEP WATER: The scene in Peel Road, Douglas, last Wednesday
IT’S official – this has been the wettest summer on record.
The news, which won’t surprise many, came from the Met Office on Friday teatime when a spokesman said overnight rain had not only caused some localised flooding but had brought the rainfall total at Ronaldsway Airport for the summer period (June, July and August) to 334mm so far. This beats the previous record of 330mm from 1985, with more rain forecast to come throughout the rest of this month.
‘Most parts of the British Isles have had an unusually unsettled summer with areas of low pressure giving often windier, duller and wetter conditions,’ said the spokesman. ‘This has been caused by the North Atlantic jet-stream being further south than normal. The jet-stream is the strong band of high altitude wind that controls the development and movement of pressure systems. In the summer it would normally be located to the north and northwest of Scotland, but this year it has stayed over or near the southwest and south of Ireland, Wales and England; but sometimes over the Bay of Biscay. It has brought the generally cloudier skies, spells of showers and longer periods of rain with occasional heavy bursts causing localised flooding at times as water runs off fairly saturated ground.
‘There has been record-breaking rainfall in many regions since June, including on the Isle of Man.’
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Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 8 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
