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Courtesy Independent..............
Stand by for another DECADE of wet summers, say meteorologists
Climate change may be intensifying the natural cycle and may prolong it, says expert, but it is
too early to say
Britain faces ten more years of wet summers, after the Met Office revealed the country is in the
midst of a rare weather cycle that increases the prospect of summer rain and could last for two decades.
Since the cycle began in 2007, six of the past seven summers have been wetter than average - with
last summer seeing the heaviest rainfall in a century at almost double the seasonal average.
Although the cycle does not guarantee wet summers, it "loads the dice" in favour of increased rainfall
each year, making wet summers more likely for the next five to ten years. The prediction is based on the
last two times the cycle - known as Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation - occurred, in the 1950s and
early 1960s and in the 1880s.
"This is a really new and exciting finding," said Professor Stephen Belcher, head of the Met Office
Hadley Centre, of the research by the University of Reading.
"Up to ten years from now the cycle could persist and therefore there is a higher possibility of
wet summers," he added.
Climate change may be intensifying the natural cycle and may prolong it, but it is too early to say
for certain, Professor Belcher said.