The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20050309111352/http://www.metoffice.com:80/education/historic/oct2000storm.html
 

Search logo
 

Met Office logo
  bullet  Home   bullet  Education   bullet  Historic weather events   bullet  The storms of October 2000 Space
  Weather data  | CLC | TTC | HWE | Links | UK climate | Webcams | Resources Space
Page Top
  The storms of October 2000
underline

Contents

Introduction
The storms of 28-30 October

The passage of a depression - the example of 30 October storm

Exercises

 

Introduction
The Autumn of 2000 was the wettest since records began in 1766. In all, 503 mm of rain fell during this exceptionally wet and unsettled period. In October, 188 mm of rain was recorded in England and Wales, followed by 182 mm in November. In all, the total for 2000 was 251 mm above the average for this season. Not surprisingly, many parts of the United Kingdom experienced flooding, and there was major disruption to travel and sporting events as frontal system after frontal system swept across the country.
The problems began during the period between 9 and 12 October, when a complex low pressure cell built up over Northern Ireland and Scotland, bringing heavy rain and wind. Then, between 11 and 12 October, southern parts of the country were affected by a slow-moving area of heavy rain. In Kent and Sussex, torrential downpours occurred, with between 4 and 6 inches (100-150 mm) of rain falling overnight.

Further frontal systems passed over the UK during the next fortnight or so, as a low pressure cell gradually established itself to the north-west of the country. This drove belts of rain and heavy showers across the country and, in some parts of the country, quite significant amounts of rain fell on every day of the month. By the final week of October, many rivers in the country were either swollen with floodwater or had burst their banks.

storm photo
Britain takes a battering

News bulletins were full of flood warnings and stories of areas being evacuated as the Environment Agency issued flood alerts. It was then that meteorological events took a further turn for the worse.

next: The storms of 28-30 October

 

 
SpacerAbout
Met Office
A day in the life of...
Work experience
Terms and conditions
Access keys
News
What's new?
News release archive
Media Centre
Learn
About the weather
From the bookshelf
Training courses
How to become a weather observer
Services
Academic research
Library and archive
Links
Curriculum Online
NGfL
VTC
Nelson Thornes
MetLinkInternational
Educational webpages
Contact
Contact us
Contact Education
FAQ
www.metoffice.gov.uk ©Crown copyright