Is this about to be Britain’s rainiest summer for more than a century?

Despite being notoriously grey, the UK doesn’t bode well with heavy rainfall. Last year, two major storms caused over 150 rivers to flood to record levels, leaving 2,200 homes flooded across the country.

As a result of the news, the intense-sounding forecasts have raised concerns that popular summertime events will be in jeopardy, including Glastonbury, Wimbledon, Royal Ascot and the Trooping of the Colour.

There are a number of ways governments can help combat flooding caused by intense rainfall, including improving storm drains and transforming cities and communities into ‘sponges’.

The latter is achieved by planting more foliage in areas that have been paved over and heavily urbanized, in order to allow trees and moss to absorb excess water flow.

However, these kinds of projects require time and planning, meaning this summer may be a lesson that pushes the UK towards making it happen.

A sponge city is also a cool city, a wildlife-rich city, a city that absorbs water, reducing flood & drought risk – we need sponge cities, we need whole sponge catchments – wetlands, woodland, nature friendly farming – conserving water, recharging rivers.https://t.co/UWBEALm3K0 pic.twitter.com/xafAHzVs51

— watershed_investigations (@WATERSHED_i) May 21, 2024

All of this said, the Met Office seems to be backtracking on its initial predictions.

Weather patterns can be unpredictable – especially as our climate changes – and it may be too early to write off a decent summer. The organization now says that there’s a fifty-fifty chance projections change for the better.

The unpredictability of our seasons is becoming more common, with experts pointing to climate change are responsible for the weather Brits have been faced with as of late.

This is because our atmosphere is warming and holding more moisture, as much as 7 percent more moisture per degree increase.

As average temperatures in the UK rise further, we can anticipate that rainfall levels will rise as well. If these trends continue, leaders will certainly need to consider natural and infrastructural solutions to cope.