Autumn and winter storms in the UK 2023-24
Author(s)
Bird, Jennifer
Type
Report
Abstract
Key points
• Rainfall during autumn and winter storms in the UK and Ireland in 2023/24 was made around 20% more intense by human-caused climate change.
• The total volume of rainfall experienced over the October 2023 – March 2024 period increased by about 15% compared to the preindustrial climate.
• Rainfall intensity and volume are expected to continue to worsen unless greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly reduced.
• A range of factors, including health, economic, social, discrimination and geographic features can impact people’s level of risk from flooding, with risk of harm especially high in cases where multiple risk factors intersect.
• The Government has not yet set a long-term resilience target for flooding, and policy measures to build resilience have so far fallen short.
In late 2023 and early 2024, the UK and Ireland experienced a very active storm season. The countries were affected by 13-14 severe storms. Storms Babet, Ciarán, Henk and Isha were some of the most damaging in Ireland and the UK, leading to severe floods, at least 13 deaths, severe damages to homes and infrastructure, power outages, travel cancellations, and loss of crops and livestock.
• Rainfall during autumn and winter storms in the UK and Ireland in 2023/24 was made around 20% more intense by human-caused climate change.
• The total volume of rainfall experienced over the October 2023 – March 2024 period increased by about 15% compared to the preindustrial climate.
• Rainfall intensity and volume are expected to continue to worsen unless greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly reduced.
• A range of factors, including health, economic, social, discrimination and geographic features can impact people’s level of risk from flooding, with risk of harm especially high in cases where multiple risk factors intersect.
• The Government has not yet set a long-term resilience target for flooding, and policy measures to build resilience have so far fallen short.
In late 2023 and early 2024, the UK and Ireland experienced a very active storm season. The countries were affected by 13-14 severe storms. Storms Babet, Ciarán, Henk and Isha were some of the most damaging in Ireland and the UK, leading to severe floods, at least 13 deaths, severe damages to homes and infrastructure, power outages, travel cancellations, and loss of crops and livestock.
Date Issued
2024-05-30
Citation
Grantham Institute background briefing, 2024, pp.1-7
Publisher
Imperial Grantham Institute
Start Page
1
End Page
7
Journal / Book Title
Grantham Institute background briefing
Copyright Statement
o © 2024 The authors, produced for The Grantham Institute. This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No-Derivatives 4.0 International License. This license permits all or part of the work to be copied and shared with others, provided that the original authors and source are credited.