Click here to see the BBC Weather forecast for Imogen.
Imogen is the latest depression to batter the UK and this time it is us is the Southeast who will feel her rage with wind speeds of up to 90mph along the south coast. Current wind speeds here at Brambletye are around 30-40kph with gusts exceeding 70kph: see our data on the Weather Underground site.
Why are we getting so much 'bad' weather in the UK this year? It seems to have been a catalogue of floods, storms and hurricane force winds: weather records are being broken every year.
As BBC weatherman, John Hammond, explained in Countryfile yesterday (See the episode on iPlayer - first 15 minutes) , the repeated extreme weather, and flooding in places such as Cockermouth, is a side effect of this being an 'el nino'. This is a major el nino year and the warm ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean have altered weather patterns globally just as was predicted back in May. We are getting high winds and floods; the US has had extreme snow storms (the so-called #snowmaggedon2016 and tornadoes and Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing the worst drought in years! Zimbabwe has declared a state of emergency as farmers are losing up to 80% of their livestock due to the drought (read the story).
I wonder if this chap has started to believe in Climate Change? (he didn't in September 2015)
