Weather in the NEWS February 1999 Heavy rain brings flooding across the UK
Frontal system across Western Europe: 15th January 1999
January once again brought severe weather conditions across much of the UK with heavy rainfall adding to the already high levels of most rivers. Fortunately, the severe conditions of January 1998 were not repeated and the Sussex coastal town of Selsey did not suffer another tornado! But, conditions were severe enough to cause further worries about the state of the sea defences along the south coast and teams of bulldozers were brought in by the Environment Agency to shore up the shingle beaches protecting Selsey and other parts of the coast. A substantial part of the chalk cliffs near Beach Head (close to Eastbourne) collapsed when the chalk became waterlogged and lost its stability. Thousands of tons of chalk collapsed into the sea along several hundred metres of cliff. The weekend of 15th/16 January brought some of the wettest conditions with a strong frontal system passing across the UK. Red flood warning alerts were issued for rivers in the South West region after the heaviest January rainfall for 40 years. In some areas, over three inches of rain (80mm) fell in just 24 hours! The heavy rain fell onto already waterlogged ground and rapidly ran off into the surrounding streams and rivers. River levels rose rapidly and many threatened to burst their banks.
	The Blackwater Stream, Rhinefield, New Forest. The Blackwater Stream drains forested areas to the west of Lyndhurst in the southern part of the New Forest. Heavy rainfall over the 15th and 16th January ran off and into the Blackwater. By the following day the river level had risen substantially and a large amount of debris was being washed down the river bed. In this photograph, a fallen tree has been washed downstream and has become stuck across the flow of the river
	Smaller debris has collected against logs in this picture. The logs are jammed against tree roots in the river bank, exposed by the fast current washing away the soil in the bank. Once the logs jammed into place, other debris built up around them forming a natural dam. The turbulence in the river in both these pictures indicates fast flow - simple tests with floating objects showed that the river velocity was around 2 ms-1
	In these conditions, the stream was approaching bank full state at about 4m in width and 1.5m depth on the outside of a bend. With a stream velocity of 2 ms-1 we can calculate a discharge rate of cross sectional area x velocity = 3 x 2 = 6 m3 / second. Water has a density of 1000 kg/m3 = 1 Tonne/3 so we can suggest an approximate discharge rate of 6 Tonnes per second!
A day later the water level had fallen - and the water was flowing at around 1 ms-1. With a smaller channel width and a shallower depth, the river now occupies a much smaller cross section. At the more sedate flow rate the river now discharges only 1.5 Tonnes /second. A susbtantial reduction! With the substantial increase in discharge during flood conditions, it is easy to see how rapid erosion can occur.
	At Brockenhurst, the Blackwater Stream joins the Oberwater and other streams to form the Lymington River. Rapid run off in the forest upstream causes the stream levels to rise rapidly, increasing discharge rates. At this point the surrounding land is flat and open - and the downstream part of the river is constrained. The rising water rapidly backs up as it cannot leave the area as fast as it is arriving from the upstream tributaries and soon floods the surrounding fields (and visitor car parks!).

US Tornado season under way After last autumn's devastating hurricane season (culminating in the massive destruction across Central America by Hurricane Mitch) and last spring's Tornado season (108 deaths in the USA), the 1999 tornado season has got underway with a series of twisters touching down in the mid-west. The worst incident occured at Jackson, Tennessee, where 8 people were killed in the early evening of 17th January. Tornadoes (twisters) were seen across 12 county districts but severe winds blowing as high as 100mph affected another 16 districts. About 100 people were injured that night but it was in Jackson that most of the deaths occured. One family was killed when a school bus was blown through their home. A two story house was ripped from the ground and dropped, upside down over 100m away! Killer tornadoes are generally rare this early in the year - although 55 persons died in Arkansas on January 3rd 1949. Killer tornadoes are normally expected later in the year when temperatures are higher (April/May). 15 deaths have been reported in this year's storms so far - including people killed by falling trees and one woman who went outside her home to fetch her dog! For more information, visit the CNN pages: Arkansas twister: 22nd January Clarksville residents describe the tornado - 22 second WAV file Jackson, Tennessee tornado: 17th January The Tornado Project - wide ranging information, news and advice

Snow falls across Western Mediterranean
	February blew into the Western Mediterranean with up to 15cm (6 inches) of snow falling across the Balearic Islands (Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza). A cold front swung down from the north, bringing North and North Easterly winds to the region.
The cold air from the north picked up moisture as it moved across the warmer waters of the Mediterranean - and dropped it again as snow over the islands. Heaviest snow falls occured across the higher hillsides and north facing regions. Some snow fell as low as the coastal resort beaches. Strong winds made the air temperatures of 5°C feel even colder through the wind chill factor. The Balearic Islands are a popular retreat for Britons fleeing the cold weather at home. Yesterday, conditions across Britain were cloudy with temperatures in the order of 8°C to 11°C

Earlier news pages are also available: 1999 January 1999 - Storms lashed both northern and southern hemispheres 1998 December 1998 - Dreaming of a White Christmas! - Seasons of the Sun November 1998 - Hurricane Mitch - one of the most severe hurricanes of this century wreaks havoc across Nicaragua and Honduras October 1998 - Typhoons hit Philippines and Japan - Winter weather warnings for UK September 1998 - Atlantic hurricane season under way Summer 98 - information about conditions in June and July. Return to main Weather index page Page update: February 1999 Online weather resources: St. Vincent College