How a deluge rescued the UK’s hidden climate history through lockdown volunteers

It pours when it rains. Make the most of the sun while it shines. Don’t wait for rainy days. It doesn’t matter if it rains or shines. English is awash with phrases about weather, particularly rain. Fascination with the weather seems embedded in the UK’s national identity, but there is much people still need to learn about it.

Scientists know there were terrible floods and brutal droughts in the country’s past which could happen again. Extreme downpours are more likely to occur as the climate changes.

The government advisesFloods that are so rare they only occur once in 100 year must be able withstand defenses. What does a flood look like in this scenario? These events need to be accurately described in order to protect homes.

Many of the information is stored in handwritten paper records that amateur meteorologists have compiled over decades. But thanks to the work of modern volunteers, millions of rainfall measurements were recently made available to science, vastly expanding our understanding of Britain’s climate, revealing new records and shedding light on just how extreme the weather can get.

A treasure trove full of data

The British Rainfall Organisation (BRO), which was founded in the 1860s and led by a meteorologist, began. George SymonsThe team collected rainfall observations from Britain and Ireland through volunteers who were asked to submit their records. They were able to find measurements back as far as 1677 from newspapers and other publications as well as diaries maintained by weather enthusiasts.

These observations were collected by the BRO on 66,000 sheets of paper. Each sheet included measurements of the rain that fell during a particular decade in a given location.

From 1960 onwards, new rainfall data was stored directly on computers. Paper sheets were carefully stored in archives to avoid being forgotten. The five million handwritten measures are converted into digital data that a computer can analyze. This is a huge task that requires human eyes to recognize the sometimes difficult-to-read numbers.

In the midst of the first national lockdown, an opportunity presented itself in 2020. The National Meteorological Archive had scanned the paper sheets and made the images. Available online. The University of Reading launched a citizen science program called Rainfall RescueWe are asking the public for their help to make these measurements more accessible to science.

Volunteers were given a single sheet of paper to look at and asked to input the year’s values. To correct any errors, each sheet was shown to at most four volunteers. The entire process took us many months to complete. It took just 16 working days.

We did not expect 16,000 volunteers would volunteer to help. The public response to the pandemic was amazing, whether it was because they had more time or were just looking for something to distract them. The data came in night and day. The project yielded more that 3.3 million rainfall measurements between 1677-1677, and 1960. It was aided by volunteers who looked through more than 1,000 pages and 100 million keystrokes. There are thousands of locations. These are Now available onlineto improve the quality of the Met Office’s records. National rainfall statistics.

New weather records

Rainfall Rescue was established before records from the UK were created. Data for that year was only available from 19 rain gauges. Volunteers have made it possible to access data from over 700 rain gauges for 1862, which allows us to map rainfall variation more precisely than ever before.

We can also look back further in time to map the UK’s rainfall for each month since 1836. This is the year Charles Darwin returned to the UK aboard the Beagle with Vice Admiral Robert Fitzroy, who later established the Met Office. It is also the year before Queen Victoria’s reign.

Rainfall Rescue data before 1862 are new to science. Our records must be updated. The UK had 1887 as its driest year. It is now 1855.

February 2020 was the wettest year ever for many regions in the UK, while May had been the driest. These record-breakers are now no longer in the limelight. Many regions experienced more rain in February 1848 than 2020, while others saw May 1844 as drier than 2020.

The data also shows other important events. April 1842 is now the UK’s driest month. November and December 1852 were records for being extremely dry, with significant flooding throughout the country.

We’re just beginning to analyse the new data, and still adding information from more locations. This will offer invaluable insight into how the UK’s climate is changing and put recent weather in perspective, preparing us for the future with better understanding of what the weather has thrown at us in the past.

This was possible because sheets of paper were created by volunteers who worked tirelessly to record rainfall every day for many decades. Lady Bayning collected measurements from 1835-1887. She also brought her rain gauge when she traveled from Norfolk, England to London for the social season. William Buckley Pugh contributed 65 year’s worth of rainfall observations to his mill near Hull, and later in retirement.

Many other people took measurements at waterworks and factories, vicarages and canals, as well as railway stations, lighthouses, hospitals, and railway stations throughout Britain and Ireland. We are now better informed about rainfall in these islands thanks to their efforts, George Symons’ vision, and the commitment of thousands more online volunteers.

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