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Winters across north-west Europe have become much wetter over the past
century, according to a new analysis by the Danish Meteorological Institute in
Copenhagen. Torben Schmith found average increases in precipitation of between
10 and 20 per cent, at 40 monitoring points from Britain to the Arctic shores of
Norway. The Belgian town of Chimay had the largest increase, of 35 per cent.
Detailed statistical analysis revealed that half of the increase could be
explained by changes in weather patterns, such as those caused by the North
Atlantic Oscillation. But the other half is harder to explain. “One possibility
is…