Parts of Britain will be deluged by almost a month's rainfall on Friday, as the abysmal summer weather shows no sign of letting up.
Met Office forecasters have warned that a storm rolling in from the Atlantic will soak South West England, Wales, the West Midlands, London and parts of the South East with more than 1.9in (50mm) of rain.
A spokesman said: "There will be no respite from the miserable summer weather just yet."
Heavy rain and gusting winds are expected, with forecasters predicting that some areas will suffer localised flooding.
South-west England and Wales will bear the brunt of the Friday storms with 50mph winds expected.
Earth Changes
Britain is just a few showers away from recording a record wet summer, at the climax of the most remarkable period of broken weather records in the country's history. All of the smashed records are to do with temperature and rainfall - the two aspects of the climate most likely to be intensified by the advent of global warming.
While no specific event can be ascribed directly to climate change, the sequence of events is strongly suggestive of a climate that is now unmistakably altering before our eyes.
While no specific event can be ascribed directly to climate change, the sequence of events is strongly suggestive of a climate that is now unmistakably altering before our eyes.
The saturated ground means any more downpours could cause huge volumes of water underground to burst out
Britain is facing a flooding timebomb this autumn and winter, with huge amounts of underground water stored up by incessant summer rain ready to burst out as floods the next time heavy rains return.
The Environment Agency is giving warning of "an enhanced flood risk" for England and Wales, although where and when any flooding strikes will depend on the weather patterns. Forecasters are predicting a wet autumn across much of Britain.
Britain is facing a flooding timebomb this autumn and winter, with huge amounts of underground water stored up by incessant summer rain ready to burst out as floods the next time heavy rains return.
The Environment Agency is giving warning of "an enhanced flood risk" for England and Wales, although where and when any flooding strikes will depend on the weather patterns. Forecasters are predicting a wet autumn across much of Britain.
Torrential downpours which hit last week and left swathes of England and Wales under water were officially the worst in more than 200 years of record keeping, according to figures released by the Met Office Thursday.
Rainfall was more than double the seasonal average, with the early summer months of May to July witnessing 382.4 millimeters (15.06 inches) of rainwater, topping the previous record of 349.1 millimeters in 1789, said officials.
Deluges in 32 counties, covering the thousands of square miles stretching from Devon to Yorkshire, broke records dating back to 1914 by more than 25 millimeters, the meteorologists added.
Rainfall was more than double the seasonal average, with the early summer months of May to July witnessing 382.4 millimeters (15.06 inches) of rainwater, topping the previous record of 349.1 millimeters in 1789, said officials.
Deluges in 32 counties, covering the thousands of square miles stretching from Devon to Yorkshire, broke records dating back to 1914 by more than 25 millimeters, the meteorologists added.
© Victor R. Caivano/AP
Formosan termites swarm over a glass counter in a University of Florida entomology lab in March 1998.
Formosan termites swarm over a glass counter in a University of Florida entomology lab in March 1998.
A substance derived from glucose has been shown to weaken the insects' immune systems, making them vulnerable to infections from lethal microbes, a new study says.
The findings could give rise to a whole new class of safer pest-control treatments, the authors say.
"We wanted something environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and [that] does not play a toxic role," said study co-author Ram Sasisekharan, a biological engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
© Unknown
The Pasto Observatory of Vulcanology and Seismology recorded the latest eruption at 6:38am Monday morning. The previous eruption was at 7:18am Sunday morning.
The Conservatory announced that today's eruption was "explosive in nature".
The situation remains on red alert because authorities believe another eruption is "imminent" according to Terra.
Authorities called a red alert Sunday and ordered some 8,000 people living in the vicinity of the volcano to evacuate.
© unknown
The Galeras volcano in southern Colombia
The Galeras volcano in southern Colombia
No report on possible toll or injuries has been reported so far, but the state-run Geological Mining Institute announced a high-level alert on Sunday due to the explosive feature of the volcano activities, AFP reported.
© P. Elkan, Wildlife Conservation Society/National Geographic
Tiang herd in the Southern sector of Boma National Park.
Tiang herd in the Southern sector of Boma National Park.
For the first time, scientists have compiled and analyzed data on all of the world's largest and definitive migrating land mammals. The researchers looked at the migration history for a group of ungulates, all of them hoofed mammals, weighing more than 44 pounds (20 kg). The data suggest that one-quarter of these mammals no longer migrate, and human development is responsible for the decline, said Grant Harris, co-author of the study.
© US Geological Survey
Date-Time:
Monday, June 08, 2009 at 20:20:05 UTC
Monday, June 08, 2009 at 03:20:05 PM at epicenter
Location:
8.641°S, 71.422°W
Depth:
538.9 km (334.9 miles) set by location program
Distances:
170 km (105 miles) SE of Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil
345 km (215 miles) E of Pucallpa, Peru
425 km (265 miles) WNW of Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil
2670 km (1660 miles) WNW of BRASILIA, Distrito Federal, Brazil
© AP
A small earthquake hit three miles south of Keene, on the line dividing Johnson County and Hill County, late Sunday afternoon. That earthquake, which hit just before 6:00 p.m., had a magnitude of 2.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Another earthquake, this one a magnitude 2.3, was reported just after 8:00 a.m. Monday morning.
