In Britain, the weather in December was crazy
December was the wettest month ever recorded in the UK, with almost double the rain falling than average, according to data released by the Met Office this week.
Last month saw widespread flooding which continued into the new year, with 21 flood alerts in England and Wales and four in Scotland in force on Tuesday morning.
The record for the warmest December in the UK was also smashed last month, with an average temperature of 7.9C, 4.1C higher than the long-term average.
Climate change has fundamentally changed the UK weather, said Professor Myles Allen, at the University of Oxford: “Normal weather, unchanged over generations, is a thing of the past. You are not meant to beat records by those margins and if you do so, just like in athletics, it is a sign something has changed.”