When it comes to dominating our weather with zonal westerly flows, the Atlantic has been fairly quiet so far this winter. However, over the past few days it has really come to life, with depression after depression sweeping across the UK. Heavy rain has been almost unrelenting across western parts of the UK, particularly the hills and mountains of Snowdonia, Cumbria and western Scotland. During Friday 7th and Saturday 8th January, orographic rainfall gave some massive totals across Wales and north-west England. Capel Curig in Snowdonia received 184mm of rain in 48hrs, 106mm of that fell in just 12hrs during Friday. Shap Fell in Cumbria received 182mm during the same period, and even more populated areas such as Keswick in the Lake District had 96mm.

Severe flooding resulted from this deluge, with landslides and flooding closing many roads across north-west Wales, trapping many in their cars and cutting off entire villages. Worst hit though was Cumbria and north-west England. Whole towns were deluged with over 4ft of water as rivers burst their banks. The large town of Carlisle become completely surrounded by flood water, with huge evacuations in place to take several thousand people safely from their flooded homes.

During Friday night and into Saturday, and explosive depression wound up viciously as it crossed Northern Ireland and southern Scotland. Winds to the south of this vigorous low gave some of the stormiest conditions across the UK seen in years. Across central and southern areas, sustained wind-speeds were unusually high even inland, and during the course of the night many places saw gusts exceeding 55mph. However, the coasts of Wales, the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and northern England saw the most severe winds, with widespread damage to power supplies, trees and property. Gusts included 98mph at St Bees Head in Cumbria, widespread gusts of more than 80mph across north and west Wales, 85mph in north-east England and up to 95mph on the Isle Of Man. Although a mountain location, and as if not already battered enough by the high rainfall totals, Shap Fell in Cumbria reported a gust of 130mph during the early hours of Saturday morning.

Just when things couldn't seem to get any worse, colder air swept in behind the damaging area of low pressure, bringing snow showers to much of Scotland. Some higher level routes were only passable with extreme care! With the clear-up operation in full swing, and the amount of damage across Wales and north-west England only now becoming apparent, the prospect for drier conditions does not look good. Over the next few days, more wind and rain is expected to flood in off the Atlantic, only adding to the current problems.