It’s been an horrendous month for heavy rain and flooding in the midlands and southern England
FloodSax alternative sandbags can keep a torrent of floodwater at bay
FloodSax are also ideal at soaking up internal escapes of water in homes and businesses
Why the midlands and southern England is getting all the rain … and here’s the weather for the rest of October
The Met Office has revealed why some parts of the UK have suffered horrendous rain in September as it reveals its forecast for the rest of October will be dominated by a lot of rain and wind.
The Met Office says it’s been the wettest September on record for some English counties with southern England the worst hit.
England saw 95% more rainfall than its September average, with Wales experiencing 39% more.
Ten English counties experienced their wettest September on record and for Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire September 2024 was the wettest calendar month both counties have had dating back to 1836.
The reason is the jet stream slipping south which has caused the wet weather to settle over the midlands and south whereas the north usually suffers most.
September has been a very wet month for southern and central England in particular, with some counties seeing more than three times (300%) their average September rainfall.
Seven English counties - Bedfordshire (182.7mm), Berkshire (172.1mm), Buckinghamshire (176mm), Gloucestershire (212.2mm), Northamptonshire (171.3mm), Oxfordshire (185.2mm) and Wiltshire (196.5mm) - all recorded more than three times their average September rainfall.
Southern England had its wettest September since 1918, and its third wettest on record.
Met Office scientist Emily Carlisle said: “September saw unsettled weather across the UK. The jet stream was south shifted for most of the month, making it very wet for some in the south but rather dry for some in the north."
The jet stream is a core of strong winds around 5 to 7 miles above the Earth’s surface, blowing from west to east. It can change the strength of an area of low pressure. It acts a bit like a vacuum cleaner, sucking air out of the top and causing it to become more intense, lowering the pressure system. The lower the pressure within a system, generally the wetter, windier and stormier the weather.
Emily added: “The month began with heavy showers and thunderstorms to the south of the UK while the north of the country saw much drier and warmer conditions.
“Although mid-month saw a return to more settled weather and an increase in temperatures, low pressure was never too far away and the end of the month concluded with frontal systems bringing heavy rain and thunderstorms with an amber national severe weather warning being issued.”
When it comes to the rest of October’s weather, the Met Office says the early part of the month will probably (but not definitely, at this range) give way to more widespread rain and strong winds associated with the remnants of Hurricane Kirk later in the week once its struck the east coast of the USA and the Bahamas.
It will then give way colder and showery weather but the UK never really escapes low pressure with weather tracking in from the Atlantic for the rest of the month bringing wet and windy weather to England and Wales.
The slight silver lining in all this cloud is a chance of higher pressure in Scotland and Northern Ireland but that could bring overnight fog and frost.
Many business and homeowners now rely on FloodSax alternative sandbags to stop floodwater from getting in and also soaking up internal escapes of water.
Immerse FloodSax in water and the gelling polymer inside absorbs the water and then retains it, making the FloodSax inflate to become an instant sandbag but without any sand. They are then easy to stack into highly effective flood barriers to keep flood water out or to divert it down drains.
FloodSax come vacuum-packed in packs of five and in their dry state are ultra-flat with a large surface area which makes them ideal to soak up drips, leaks and spills indoors, especially in hard-to-reach places such as beneath boilers, below radiators and underneath pipes. They are also ideal to soak up rainwater getting into properties through leaky roofs and windows or rising up from the ground.
Around 3 million FloodSax have now been sold worldwide.
They are available online or through stockists across the UK. More information at https://www.floodsax.co.uk/buy/uk-suppliers/