:00:12. > :00:19.2012, a chaotic year of extreme weather.
:00:19. > :00:29.Flood warnings, gusts of more than 100 mph. It is grim. It is a real
:00:29. > :00:29.
:00:29. > :00:33.Washouts and win storms, torrents and tornadoes, we will explore what
:00:33. > :00:38.happened. My colleague will examine why it happened and we will
:00:38. > :00:41.experience the first hand effect of people across the West.
:00:42. > :00:46.From drought to deluge, not to mention the wettest June in 100
:00:46. > :00:56.years, whatever happened to the weather in 2012? And what has been
:00:56. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :01:38.Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. A highlight of their
:01:38. > :01:47.West End production at the drop of a hat -- blockbuster At The Drop Of
:01:47. > :01:57.A Hat was a song of the weather. It was written in the 19 50s, and
:01:57. > :01:57.
:01:57. > :02:07.their lyrics are very close to this year's weather. # Farmers fear
:02:07. > :02:13.
:02:13. > :02:18.unkindly May, frost by night and At the start of the year, the river
:02:18. > :02:22.here in Chew Stoke was already very high indeed. On 3rd January, we had
:02:22. > :02:27.a very big there is cold front coming in from the West, and the
:02:27. > :02:32.river became so high so quickly that a car or got swept right down
:02:32. > :02:38.the river and stood down there. Like many others, this river has
:02:38. > :02:48.flooded repeatedly over the year. At the end of November, a car was
:02:48. > :02:51.
:02:51. > :02:56.washed downstream, sadly this time Most weather fronts that kind of
:02:56. > :03:00.the region have been swept in by the prevailing wind, a westerly
:03:01. > :03:05.wind. That is what we have here today on the Bristol Channel coast,
:03:06. > :03:12.and the wind from the West is being funnelled up through their high
:03:12. > :03:16.ground. Those stratocumulus clouds are
:03:16. > :03:21.formed from the moisture being carried in from the Atlantic, and
:03:21. > :03:25.with them came like showers, not that there was much of the wet
:03:25. > :03:31.stuff in March in her ear of topsy- turvy weather.
:03:31. > :03:34.-- in this year. Highlights tonight, we need the rain. And farmers are
:03:34. > :03:40.worried there could be crop failures. The unseasonal dry
:03:40. > :03:44.weather was due to an area of dry pressure building up at the wrong
:03:44. > :03:49.time of year. Normally a weather system like this is expected in
:03:49. > :03:54.July. And just when we needed a good shower, the rainy weather
:03:54. > :03:59.fronts were deflected away. south-west is heading towards
:03:59. > :04:08.drought conditions. River levels are running so low that fish may
:04:08. > :04:13.die unless we get significant rain. No sooner were hosepipe bans,
:04:13. > :04:17.headline news across the country, than the heavens opened. But
:04:17. > :04:23.instead of showers, we got the wettest April since records began,
:04:23. > :04:27.with over twice the normal rainfall. And it did not stop there.
:04:27. > :04:37.One part of the region that has been badly affected by the rain has
:04:37. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:42.Criss-crossed by a man made drainage ditches channelling water
:04:42. > :04:49.into the Rivers Parrett, Axe and Brue, the Somerset Levels and Moors
:04:49. > :04:52.are large flood plain. Flood plains flood, the clue is in the name.
:04:52. > :04:56.Winter flooding on the Somerset Levels and Moors is not unusual.
:04:56. > :05:00.What has been unusual is the extent and frequency of summertime
:05:00. > :05:05.flooding, and it has been troublesome to local farmers.
:05:05. > :05:10.Today it looks dry, but large parts of Curry Moor have been under water
:05:10. > :05:14.for two thirds of this year. The water table across here is
:05:14. > :05:19.exceptionally high, that is a consequence of the wet summer, and
:05:19. > :05:23.it would not take that much extra rain to threaten some of the area
:05:23. > :05:27.with further flooding. Indeed, in early November, the Environment
:05:27. > :05:30.Agency issued a warning that the south-west region is at the edge of
:05:30. > :05:33.further flooding through the course of the winter. With that in mind,
:05:33. > :05:37.they have been working with local councils, conservationists and
:05:37. > :05:43.local farmers to try to find a way forward to reduce the threat of
:05:43. > :05:52.further flooding. When the floods came, how high was
:05:52. > :05:55.the water? We would have had water well over our heads. If this is the
:05:55. > :05:59.way the weather is going to be, the water that comes in here needs to
:05:59. > :06:04.be got at more quickly. We have been talking about the Environment
:06:04. > :06:08.Agency about getting work done to get the river to take more what.
:06:08. > :06:13.There is a range of options being considered. Dredging rivers,
:06:13. > :06:16.digging or drainage channels or even managing the area differently
:06:16. > :06:22.by reducing the amount of intensively farmed land.
:06:22. > :06:25.The recovery here is going to be a minimum of three years, for it to
:06:25. > :06:29.dissipate. Ecologists have been out and looked and given information
:06:29. > :06:34.and they reckon that three years is the minimum. Speaking to you brings
:06:34. > :06:44.home the legacy of one heavier rain event which can last hours and
:06:44. > :06:47.
:06:47. > :06:54.weeks, but months or even years. Absolutely.
:06:54. > :06:59.A # June just rains and never stops, 30 days and spoils the crops. # In
:06:59. > :07:02.July the sun is hot, is it shining? Not, it's not! #
:07:03. > :07:06.the sea was so bad because it was coming up to springtime, and
:07:06. > :07:10.coupled with a strong gale, it is a lethal combination.
:07:10. > :07:16.We would normally expect this in October or November. It is not
:07:16. > :07:20.something I have ever witnessed in the eight years I have been here.
:07:20. > :07:25.Clevedon was also swept up in perhaps the region's most bizarre
:07:25. > :07:29.weather story this year. Edney introduce you to an important
:07:29. > :07:33.concept in the localised weather patterns here. This is something
:07:34. > :07:38.called convergence. It is where we have winds converging, and they
:07:39. > :07:45.ultimately have to go upwards, the sea breezes groat -- blowing in one
:07:45. > :07:51.direction, and coming from another direction from Somerset, and where
:07:51. > :07:55.they meet, up go the clouds. Where these winds come together we start
:07:55. > :07:59.to introduce a bit of spin, a vortex in the atmosphere, and now
:07:59. > :08:04.you are starting to get into the area where funnel clouds might
:08:04. > :08:07.develop. If a final cloud touches the ground, it becomes by
:08:07. > :08:14.definition at a neighbour. That is exactly what we believe happened it
:08:14. > :08:19.Clevedon. -- it cleaved and. I saw a Tornado over the sea to
:08:19. > :08:27.start with, perfectly-formed. It then changed shape and created a
:08:27. > :08:32.dust cloud in front of it. It hit the wall behind me and dispersed.
:08:32. > :08:39.Clevedon's tornado tore up the beach. Meanwhile, that same day, 24
:08:39. > :08:43.miles up the estuary, sea weed rained down on Berkeley.
:08:43. > :08:48.Autumn's rain was at least expected, it has been the volume that has
:08:48. > :08:52.totally unexpected -- was totally unexpected, resulting in extensive
:08:52. > :08:55.flooding. November saw swathes of Wiltshire, the Severn Valley and
:08:55. > :09:05.the Somerset Levels underwater yet again.
:09:05. > :09:15.
:09:15. > :09:25.Freezing December yet again, then Many people come to their local
:09:25. > :09:25.
:09:25. > :09:29.airport to escape the weather, but To provide an accurate weather
:09:29. > :09:35.forecast, I need timely and accurate weather information, and I
:09:35. > :09:39.get that from weather stations across the West Country. Just ahead
:09:39. > :09:46.of doing a weather forecast, I check the one from here at Bristol
:09:46. > :09:54.airport. Open as are the at Lulsgate Bottom
:09:54. > :09:58.in 1942, Bristol airport is on top of the hill. -- opened as RAF
:09:58. > :10:05.Lulsgate Bottom. Modern airports and modern aircraft
:10:05. > :10:10.have all manner of sophisticated equipment designed to operate in
:10:10. > :10:15.all types of weathers, which is just as well. But ironically enough,
:10:15. > :10:19.this particular report was originally billed as an RAF base to
:10:20. > :10:24.train pilots to fly in bad weather. And whatever the weather, a pilot
:10:24. > :10:29.need to know the exact conditions. The rainfall, visibility, wind
:10:29. > :10:35.speed and direction. Some of the equipment for measuring whether
:10:35. > :10:43.that be aboard Macy in low-tech, for example the windsock. -- at the
:10:43. > :10:47.airport may seem low-tech. It also gives some idea as to how
:10:47. > :10:55.strong the windows. They also use that added, the anemometer, which
:10:55. > :11:01.sends data straight to the control tower. These bollards are runway
:11:01. > :11:05.visual range, which give the visibility up and down the runway.
:11:05. > :11:09.There is a set here, another in the middle, and another at the far end
:11:09. > :11:13.of the runway, so they know the visibility along the length of the
:11:13. > :11:18.runway itself. All this data ins appear in the
:11:18. > :11:23.control tower, sitting 29 metres, 100 ft, above the runway. They do
:11:23. > :11:28.not just see the plane safely and out, they keep a watchful eye on
:11:28. > :11:36.the ever-changing weather. I would imagine you can see right
:11:36. > :11:46.the way down to limit, on a clear day. Yes, you can see the City of
:11:46. > :11:49.
:11:49. > :11:54.Bristol, and the City of Bath over So, tell me about how you go about
:11:54. > :12:01.whether it -- collecting weather information here. The observations
:12:01. > :12:06.are done manually, at 10 minutes to and 20 minutes past the hours.
:12:06. > :12:16.The weather is broadcaster pilots of a 32nd is. This is the automatic
:12:16. > :12:20.
:12:20. > :12:24.terminal Information Service, or Visibility, 10 kilometres or more.
:12:24. > :12:29.So I am going to have to tune in to bat from eyewear the desk. Useful
:12:29. > :12:39.information. It tells us that the wind was due Westerleigh, and the
:12:39. > :12:41.
:12:41. > :12:46.visibility is good. -- the wind was due west. The pilot will be able to
:12:46. > :12:50.receive that information from anything up to 150 miles will way.
:12:50. > :12:54.The information provided by the weather equipment is not only
:12:55. > :12:59.essential to help the pilots take off and land safely, but it is part
:12:59. > :13:04.of a wider network of weather stations situated nationally and
:13:04. > :13:08.internationally, and we can start to study patterns based on the
:13:08. > :13:12.information they provide. These patterns are suggesting that the
:13:12. > :13:16.climate is altering. For a wider look at the causes of this year's
:13:16. > :13:20.weird weather, here is my colleague Nick Miller.
:13:20. > :13:25.In the spring of 2012, England was dry, or reservoirs were dangerously
:13:25. > :13:31.low, much of the country was in drought. But I was in a parched
:13:31. > :13:37.aquifer somewhere underneath Sussex. It is a very serious situation. The
:13:37. > :13:41.underground aquifers are very low. It seemed the only thing to save us
:13:41. > :13:51.would be a highly unusual long spell of heavy rain.
:13:51. > :13:52.
:13:52. > :13:58.But you should be careful what you The worst drought since 1976 was
:13:58. > :14:02.followed by the wettest April-June on record.
:14:02. > :14:07.I am going to find out what the sign to say are the reasons for
:14:07. > :14:09.this. I have equipped myself so without
:14:09. > :14:13.huge globe to put things into perspective.
:14:13. > :14:23.And I am going to see the people who were badly hit, to explain to
:14:23. > :14:26.
:14:26. > :14:36.them were it happened. First stop, North Tyneside, hit by
:14:36. > :14:37.
:14:37. > :14:41.a flash flood in June. It was really surreal. It was a strange
:14:41. > :14:46.sight, seeing a man in a canoe going down the street. I have come
:14:46. > :14:52.to the exact same street to tell the residents the reason for the
:14:52. > :14:57.canoeist. And to do that, you have to look at things with a global
:14:57. > :15:04.view, which is why I have got this and in particular, we have to talk
:15:04. > :15:07.about this. This is the jet stream. The jet stream is a ribbon of fast-
:15:07. > :15:11.moving air, about six miles up in the atmosphere that carries those
:15:11. > :15:15.weather system its. It is the dividing line between the cold
:15:15. > :15:20.polar air and the warm air to the south. It heads in the general
:15:20. > :15:25.direction of the UK because of the rotation of the Earth. It drives
:15:25. > :15:31.our weather. The reason it is important is because it -- the jet
:15:31. > :15:38.stream guides and carries storms across the Atlantic to the UK. It
:15:39. > :15:43.is the first order that determines the UK weather. The at the fact the
:15:43. > :15:48.jet stream exists doesn't explain canoeing on the streets of North
:15:48. > :15:56.Tyneside. It was the way the jet stream behave that was the problem.
:15:56. > :16:04.I know some people in West Sussex who want to know more. I am on my
:16:04. > :16:12.way to a place called Bracklesham Bay. One night in June, they had a
:16:12. > :16:18.month's worth of rain. Andy Sussex beach holiday village on the coast
:16:18. > :16:22.took the brunt. I got caught out in the early hours of Monday morning
:16:22. > :16:30.and I had to start evacuating people because the chalets were
:16:30. > :16:33.flooding. Let speak to the workers at the Holiday Park. In winter, the
:16:33. > :16:40.jet stream is normally here, running across the Atlantic towards
:16:40. > :16:45.the UK. We would expect to get some spells of rain in winter. But this
:16:45. > :16:50.time, things were different. So says Len Shaffrey from the
:16:50. > :16:54.University of Reading. In 2012, the jet stream was much further south
:16:54. > :16:58.than we would have expected. What it meant was that all the storms
:16:58. > :17:03.that would normally hit the UK were going into Spain and Portugal. It
:17:03. > :17:07.was much drier in the UK than normal. If you do not have the jet
:17:07. > :17:13.stream, carrying wet weather systems to the UK, as it should
:17:13. > :17:16.have been, in the winter, and further south, we end up dry up.
:17:16. > :17:20.That is why the end of our winter at the start of this year, there
:17:20. > :17:26.was so much fear about drought and what would happen if we had a third
:17:26. > :17:30.dry winter. And then when summer came around, the jet stream was
:17:30. > :17:35.still too far south. In the summer, we would normally expect the jet
:17:35. > :17:39.stream to the north of the UK. means that we are in that warm
:17:39. > :17:44.weather. We get spells of lovely warm sunshine. That is the plan
:17:44. > :17:48.anyway. But we know that did not happen this year. Rather than the
:17:48. > :17:52.jet stream being further north and Iceland, the storms that normally
:17:52. > :17:57.miss us hit the UK, bringing really heavy rainfall. And the flooding
:17:57. > :18:01.that we saw. The jet stream was in the wrong place for us all year.
:18:01. > :18:05.That is why all the early long, our weather has not figured the normal
:18:05. > :18:10.pattern we would expect. Basically the jet stream was in the wrong
:18:10. > :18:17.place and it got stuck. Add to the scientists have any theories about
:18:17. > :18:19.why you got stuck? That is the question being asked by one that a
:18:20. > :18:25.gunman in Devon. After a night of intense rain in the village of
:18:25. > :18:31.Yealmpton near Plymouth, Alan Frame found himself trapped in his house.
:18:31. > :18:37.I was leaning out of the bedroom window, just trying to get help. A
:18:37. > :18:44.man saw May. But the villagers want to know is this. Why was the jet
:18:44. > :18:50.stream in the wrong position? good position -- question. Twist it
:18:50. > :18:55.was North America. Their legal. We know that the temperature of the EC
:18:55. > :19:00.is higher than normal. It has been for quite some time. The theory is
:19:00. > :19:04.that because Pheasey is warmer than normal, the jet stream does not get
:19:04. > :19:09.that push north and it will end up further south and take those
:19:09. > :19:13.weather systems across the UK. you influence the origin of the jet
:19:13. > :19:18.stream, it is a bit like waving a long stick. You can have a big
:19:18. > :19:24.effect on the bash at the end, moving it away on to the UK.
:19:24. > :19:29.the interesting thing is we have seen this before in the 1950s.
:19:29. > :19:33.Where does all the bad weather come from? The North Atlantic sea
:19:33. > :19:39.temperature went up in the -- in a similar way and that the same time,
:19:39. > :19:43.there was a corresponding series of wet summers. That is one theory.
:19:43. > :19:46.Another theory relates to one Arctic sea ice. You may have seen
:19:46. > :19:52.reports this year about the fact that the sea ice melted to a degree
:19:52. > :19:58.that we have never recorded before. It was that blow. One suggestion is
:19:58. > :20:02.that change has led to shift in the position of the jet stream and then
:20:02. > :20:07.to changes in the kind of weather we get in the UK. But of course
:20:07. > :20:10.what we really want to know is what are the same as going to be like in
:20:10. > :20:16.the future? It depends which of those two theories has the most
:20:16. > :20:21.perfect. It sees the relationship between those two that will
:20:21. > :20:25.determine what happens next. In principle, if it reverses, it could
:20:25. > :20:30.be that we flip into the opposite regime and have a hot, dry summers
:20:30. > :20:37.in a decade or two from now. what if it is the second Theory?
:20:37. > :20:43.The melting of the Arctic ice, what happens then? We think it is part
:20:43. > :20:47.of man-made climate change. If it is that that is dominating the
:20:47. > :20:52.position of the jet stream, then we are kind of going into uncharted
:20:52. > :20:54.waters. And we are kind of going into a position when they beat the
:20:54. > :21:00.weather that we are experiencing during the summer might be starting
:21:00. > :21:05.to change. What a year of whether it has been! The answers lie well
:21:05. > :21:09.beyond our shores. If the North Atlantic cools down, we might get
:21:09. > :21:16.sunny summers but it was down to the melting Arctic seas carp -- sea
:21:16. > :21:20.ice, then we will have to wait and see. Whilst there is uncertainty in
:21:20. > :21:24.the long-term outlook, tonight's forecast is far easier to predict.
:21:24. > :21:28.I am preparing be broadcast for Points West receive it. I am
:21:29. > :21:33.starting to look at the weather stations across my region. Bristol
:21:33. > :21:37.Airport, they are warning that we could have fog. There is an awful
:21:37. > :21:42.lot to put into the graphics. It has to be said through 2012, of
:21:42. > :21:45.course, many people were greatly impacted by the weather that I was
:21:45. > :21:51.showing here and those impacts were not always felt in the most obvious
:21:51. > :21:56.of ways. Roger Wilkins is a Somerset beef farmer and a
:21:56. > :22:00.legendary cider maker. We are situated right for apples. We get
:22:00. > :22:06.the sun first thing in the morning, to the first thing that might pass
:22:06. > :22:13.last thing at night. This year, we had the least come before the
:22:13. > :22:18.blossom. The apples did not have the sun shine on them to make them
:22:18. > :22:26.grow. The more sunshine, the more sugar content. I should make half
:22:26. > :22:33.this year. This year I will be lucky to make 10,000 gallons.
:22:33. > :22:37.Roger's beef business has also been decimated by the weather. His
:22:37. > :22:42.cows are grass-fed, they raise fresh pasture, March to November,
:22:42. > :22:46.and eat home-grown hay in the winter. Yet this year, the grass
:22:46. > :22:51.was in such short supply, that by October, they were already tucking
:22:51. > :22:56.into their winter feed. And Roger has not been able to grow as much -
:22:56. > :23:04.- and left of that either. By now, we would have moulded and had two
:23:04. > :23:10.lots of grass. But as you can see, and it has been like this virtually
:23:10. > :23:19.since June. I have 25 acres like this. It was going to be the winter
:23:19. > :23:24.feed for the cows. It is enough to drive farmers to suicide! You get
:23:24. > :23:34.all this rain every day. There is no let-up. You have to go out and
:23:34. > :23:38.pound through the mud and water all the time. It makes it hard work.
:23:38. > :23:42.The summer on the region's sea France has also been hard. Weston's
:23:42. > :23:46.Hotel and Restaurants Association reported their worst summer ever.
:23:46. > :23:53.Indeed, the dismal conditions have dented the tourist industry right
:23:53. > :23:58.across the region. Anthony Bush, who runs says a one-day farm near
:23:58. > :24:02.Nailsea, is a keen weather watcher. I had been keeping weather records
:24:02. > :24:07.since I started farming. I have been keeping them every day. By
:24:07. > :24:10.need to know what is happening on the field. There is no point
:24:10. > :24:14.sending the Kaiser -- cows out on to a field that has just had two
:24:14. > :24:18.inches of rain. They will sink up to their ankles in the mud. The
:24:18. > :24:24.average rainfall we have during the year is a metre. On this year, we
:24:24. > :24:28.have had 1.3 metres. With over a third more rain this year than
:24:28. > :24:33.normal, it is not just the visitor numbers that have been affected.
:24:33. > :24:37.The weather makes everything difficult. This year has been
:24:37. > :24:41.torrential. The mud in all the paddocks, a lot of the animals will
:24:41. > :24:45.suffer from bad feet. They have to be kept on the hard standings.
:24:45. > :24:50.Quite a lot of the larger animals we have here come from warmer
:24:50. > :24:56.climates. We have on Africa section over there. It has the white rhino.
:24:56. > :25:02.They would not choose to stand out in the rain. They spend a lot of
:25:02. > :25:06.time standing inside. The giraffe stands in the doorway. It is not
:25:06. > :25:12.just giraffe's that head indoors at the first sign of rain. Until this
:25:12. > :25:17.year, this cricket pitch was a quintessentially idyllic location
:25:17. > :25:24.for England's national game. But this year, the rain has well and
:25:24. > :25:30.truly stopped play. Phil Carter, chairman of the Cotswold Cricket
:25:30. > :25:34.Association, is visiting Cricklade's groundsman, who has
:25:35. > :25:38.been gamely battling the elements all season. How many of the Games
:25:38. > :25:42.have you actually managed to play? I think in total, we should have
:25:42. > :25:48.played 38 and we have managed to get 15. It has been pretty
:25:48. > :25:54.horrendous, considering last year we managed to play every game.
:25:54. > :26:01.has had a fairly major impact on the finances as well. We have seen
:26:01. > :26:07.about a 35 % increase -- decrease in finance. The weather also puts
:26:07. > :26:12.the game under a cloud. We had a period from about June where we we
:26:12. > :26:16.did not play cricket for six weeks. There were lots of force them about,
:26:16. > :26:23.how can we actually have a league champion if so few games have been
:26:23. > :26:27.played? Cirencester's pitch may be less precarious than Cricklade's
:26:27. > :26:30.but with so many games cancelled, players are just drifting away from
:26:30. > :26:35.grassroots cricket and that is the very foundation of our national
:26:35. > :26:40.summer game. There is a fear that without the grassroots, the game
:26:40. > :26:48.could wither away. Throughout the district, you have loads of side
:26:48. > :26:50.that tart one by one man and his dog, so to speak. They have really
:26:50. > :26:54.struggled getting sides together. There comes a point in time where
:26:54. > :26:57.they just say, I cannot be doing what does. The distinct possibility
:26:57. > :27:02.of village clubs closing is prompting a debate about the future
:27:02. > :27:07.of the traditional game. village clubs are very important to
:27:07. > :27:11.cricket. We have so many rural cricket clubs across the country.
:27:11. > :27:15.They are the heartbeat of many of the committees. The worry is we do
:27:15. > :27:18.not want to lose people from the game. What we tried to do is ensure
:27:18. > :27:23.that there are alternative versions of the game of cricket to key
:27:23. > :27:26.people going. If the weather remains the same and we have the
:27:26. > :27:30.same problems that the weather has caused this year, we will see us
:27:30. > :27:36.losing cricket clubs within the county and across the country. And
:27:36. > :27:40.that is huge. Once they are lost, they will be lost forever. You are
:27:40. > :27:46.watching Points West. Rots still to come on the programme, including a
:27:46. > :27:49.full round up of the weather -- locked. It has gone to the fog that
:27:49. > :27:55.forms the headlines for the next 24 hours. I have been enthusiastic
:27:55. > :27:58.about whether since I was a little boy. I remember being amazed by
:27:58. > :28:02.huge thunderstorms are being equally excited by the power of a
:28:02. > :28:06.full-on westerly gale. But when I am doing this job, I am conscious
:28:06. > :28:11.of the fact that the impact of the weather I am showing each night can
:28:11. > :28:17.be very profoundly felt by people on the ground. Elsewhere, the low
:28:17. > :28:27.cloud possibly showing some signs of wanting to break up. Certainly
:28:27. > :28:30.
:28:30. > :28:33.quite chilly. Eight Celsius in some In Britain, the weather is often
:28:33. > :28:37.considered as near small-talk but I believe and especially having
:28:37. > :28:41.witnessed the weather in its -- and its impacts during 2012, that it is