The hamlet of Seathwaite in Cumbria is the wettest inhabited place in England, with an average of 3,552mm of rain a year. Meanwhile, the town of Ambleside, a 10-mile stomp over the fells from Seathwaite, receives an average of only 2,061mm of rain a year. So why do clouds empty themselves over poor old Seathwaite, and how does Ambleside dodge so many showers?
Scientists may soon have the answer to questions like this thanks to a mobile weather radar, operated by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, which is gathering data across Cumbria and surrounding areas.
The new observations will capture local detail, such as how air flows around the mountains and why rain clouds bubble up in one area but not another. By firing pulses of electromagnetic radiation into the atmosphere, and measuring the amount of energy reflected back, the radar measures the raindrops or snowflakes overhead in real-time.
This localised data will help scientists to understand extreme rainfall and flood risk, in an area that has been hard hit by such events in recent years. And ultimately it could help to generate detailed local weather forecasts, enabling people to prepare better when severe weather is on the way.
