The Urban Naturalist
Friendly, practical workshops run by leading naturalists. From wild food-foraging and composting to bird song and insect identification, explore biodiversity on our doorstep.
The Meteorology of the Lancashire Floods of December 2015
Join Dr Jonathan G Fairman of the Centre for Atmospheric Science, The University of Manchester as he explores the recent flooding events.
The flooding that occurred in Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire in December 2015 – January 2016 was one of the most expensive natural disasters in the history of the north of England, with total estimated damages being on the order of £1 billion. The floods were the result of the wettest December on record, with parts of Cumbria and Lancashire exceeding three times the normal amount of precipitation. The occurrence of these floods and their extreme nature has led to numerous queries about the impact of climate change on the storms that caused the flooding and whether we can expect more events like this in the future.
This talk will discuss why the Lancashire floods occurred and the physics behind flooding events from a meteorological point of view, highlighting how these types of events are forecasted and monitored in the United Kingdom. We will also discuss the science behind the potential fingerprints of climate change within the atmosphere and any effect that climate change could have had on the storm systems (Desmond and Eva) that contributed to the flooding.
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Manchester Museum
Oxford Road
Manchester
Phone: 0161-2752648
Email: museum@manchester.ac.uk
