Met Office "Record Rainfall" Claims Exposed as Fake

The Met Office's own data, released under FOI, reveal the falsehood

It was a dull, damp month, but it was certainly a long way from the being the wettest February on record. Twenty-five years had wetter Februarys in the UK. It was therefore a surprise when the Met Office announced that this year Worcestershire saw its wettest February on record since 1836.

The announcement was naturally accompanied by the usual blaming of climate change, with the BBC claiming without any evidence that increased burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil causes heavier rainfall.

Data since provided by the Met Office under the Freedom of Information Act have now shown that its claim of record rainfall does not stand up to scrutiny.

The Met Office currently only has three official weather stations in Worcestershire: Pershore, Pershore College and Astwood Bank. According to the Met Office data released, rainfall last month at the stations was 128mm, 121mm and 146mm respectively. If we discard Pershore as effectively duplicating the College, we get an average of 133.5mm. None of these stations were around in 1836: the college has the longest record, dating back to 1952 and Astwood only goes as far back as 1976.

How do these rainfall totals compare with other Februarys?