European ‘monsoon season’ theories dismissed despite June following April as one of the wettest months on record
This article tells us:
There has been some suggestion that the Jubilee downpour and the rain since is part of a phenomenon known as the “European monsoon” – when westerly winds return strongly from the Atlantic in June, after a weakening in the late spring.
The Met Office says this is an ill-defined phenomenon, and does not really apply at the moment. “This spring saw the wettest April for 100 years and a May that was pretty unsettled too,” said a Met Office spokesman. “Therefore it is quite difficult to say that the ‘westerly winds are returning’ this year as they never really left us to start with.
I continue to wonder whether changing weather patterns are due to my faulty memory or reality. I could sware thought that the weather, mirroring the economy at the moment, does seem to be more tuned into a climate of extremes, with all the attendant bad news for those who rely on the production of local food.