Victorians faced weather extremes too, reveals Met Office data analysis by citizen scientists

Deluges of rain, dry spells, and periodical flooding. We could be describing any year within the last decade, but this is actually the profile of extreme weather patterns unearthed as part of a new analysis of rainfall observations in the 1800s.

The University of Reading launched the Rainfall Rescue project in March 2020 during the height of the pandemic and called on the public’s help to digitally transcribe 130 years’ worth (1820 to 1960) of handwritten rainfall observations between from the Met Office archives.

16,000 volunteers responded to call digitising an impressive 5.2 million observations taken in just 16 days, before eight dedicated volunteers helped arrange the data into chronological sequences for each location.

Their findings revealed, amongst other insights, new records for extreme dry and wet months across the UK. Thanks to the new data the driest year on record is now 1855 (786.5mm), while the driest May on record shifted back from May 2020 (England 9.6mm) to May 1844 (England 8.3mm).

The wettest month on record for large parts of southern England has now emerged as November 1852.

Data from rain gauges across the country, including one next door to Beatrix Potter’s Hilltop Farm in the Lake District, as well as observations made by people from a range of backgrounds – such as ‘Lady Bayning’, who recorded rainfall in Norfolk between 1835-1887.

Professor Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading and Rainfall Rescue project lead, said: “Thanks to the hard work of the volunteers, we now have detailed accounts of the amount of rain that fell, back to 1836, as seen through the eyes of other dedicated volunteers from several generations ago. To put that in context, 1836 was the year Charles Darwin returned to the UK on the Beagle with Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy, and a year before Queen Victoria took to the throne.

“As well as being a fascinating glimpse into the past, the new data allows a longer and more detailed picture of variations in monthly rainfall, which will aid new scientific research two centuries on. It increases our understanding of weather extremes and flood risk across the UK and Ireland, and helps us better understand the long-term trends towards the dramatic changes we’re seeing today.”

On her experience Jacqui Huntley, one of the eight Rainfall Rescue volunteers who worked across the whole project, said: “I got involved because I’m British and therefore a fanatic about the weather, especially rain. And it rains a lot where I live in Scotland.

“The data are obviously valuable to scientists, but I have also loved learning about the rainfall observers who were so dedicated in measuring the weather day after day. It has been fun, and a true team effort, from start to finish.”

The digitised data, which now features around six times the amount of observational data for the period before 1960, will be used by scientists and water companies to create a more accurate picture of the variability of Britain’s weather, helping show whether its water-supply network can cope with future extreme wet or dry events.

Read more about the study findings, publishing in the Geoscience Data Journal, here.

More on water and weather cycles:

Unearthing a hidden cycle in UK water extremes