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- The 2012 Great Britain and Ireland floods were a series of weather events that affected parts of Great Britain and Ireland periodically during the course of 2012 and on through the winter into 2013. The beginning of 2012 saw much of the United Kingdom experiencing droughts and a heat wave in March. A series of low pressure systems steered by the jet stream brought the wettest April in 100 years, and flooding across Britain and Ireland. Continuing through May and leading to the wettest beginning to June in 150 years, with flooding and extreme events occurring periodically throughout Britain and parts of Atlantic Europe. On 27 and 28 June and again on 7 July heavy rain events occurred from powerful thunderstorms that gathered strength as they travelled across mainland Britain. Severe weather warnings and a number of flood alerts were issued by the UK's Environment Agency, and many areas were hit by flash floods that overwhelmed properties and caused power cuts. A motorist was killed after his vehicle was caught by floodwater and landslides halted rail services between England and Scotland. The thunderstorms were the product of two fronts that collided over the British Isles – warm air travelling from the Azores and cold water-ladened air from the west. The second batch of flooding struck the South-West of England during the afternoon of 6 July, forcing the Met Office to issue its highest alert, Red (Take Action), due to the significant amounts of rainfall caused by a system travelling from Southern Europe, along with the warm, humid air the United Kingdom had seen in the run-up to the floods, which, like the June floods, caused thunderstorms. During the Autumn the most intense September low since 1981 brought widespread flooding and wind damage to the UK. Widespread flooding occurred again in November, December and January 2013, as more heavy rains overwhelmed the saturated ground. (en)
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