PARTS of England have experienced the wettest January since records began more than 100 years ago, with little hope of relief as more rain sweeps in this weekend.
Large swathes of the country, from east Devon to Kent and parts of the Midlands, have already seen twice the average rainfall for the month.
More than 175.2mm fell between 1 and 28 January this year in the South East and central southern England, beating the previous record of 158.2mm set in January 1988.
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More rain is on its way in the coming days, with the possibility of snow and high winds too, reports the BBC. The Met Office has issued numerous yellow warnings – the lowest of its three alert levels – for the next few days.
Parts of central Scotland and northern England are being warned of snow on Friday, while high winds are expected for many western parts of the UK on Saturday and Sunday.
In Wales, Aberystwyth University is planning to evacuate its student halls of residence on the seafront from 4pm tomorrow in anticipation of stormy weather and high tides.
Meanwhile, Somerset continues to be hit by floods, with some villages cut off by the high water. By Tuesday the South West and south Wales had experienced the fifth-wettest January on record.
Yesterday, following an emergency Cobra committee meeting, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson agreed to send in the army to help families hit by the floods.
Military planners are meeting with council officials to work out how best they can help bring food into the villages and transport people to dry land.
The damaging winds and rain are being driven by an unusually strong jet stream, which has brought wet conditions since the beginning of December, says the Met Office.
However, the wet weather had been accompanied by milder temperatures. The mean temperature across the UK up to 28 January was 4.9C, which is 1.2C above average.
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