Update: Provisional Met Office figures for the whole of June are now available at: Met Office confirms wettest June in over a century

We all know that, so far, it has been a very wet June in many parts of the UK – but just how wet has it been?

Met Office figures show that, up to the 24^th of the month, the UK had seen 122.3 mm of rain –ranking as the third wettest June since records began in 1910 and well over one-and-a-half times the UK average.

So this month is currently just behind the second wettest June in 1912, which saw 124.5 mm of rain, and a little way off the wettest June in 2007, which saw 136.2 mm.

Clearly there are several more days to go and there is some rainfall in the forecast, so not possible to categorically say exactly where the month will finish in the overall records – however it is safe to say it has been a disappointingly wet month.

It’s important to note the rainfall this month hasn’t been evenly spread over the UK. Some areas have seen a great deal of rain, with 52 observation sites breaking record rainfall totals.

Not all of these records are significant as some of stations only have a very short history – for example, Usk in Monmouthshire has only been taking measurements for one year. However, at the other extreme, Otterbourne in Hampshire has been operating for 119 years.

While some areas have already seen record rainfall, others are lingering close to their all-time June minimum. Six stations are currently still below their lowest June rainfall total – but this could change by the end of the month.

What is interesting as that most of the drier stations are in the far north and west of the UK – areas which we would normally expect to see the most rainfall.

Map showing rainfall up to the 24 June 2012 compared to the1971-2000 average. Many parts of the country have seen double their normal amount, while the far north west has seen much less than usual.

This illustrates the story behind this month’s weather, as the rain-bearing low pressure systems moving in from the Atlantic which normally track to the north of the UK have been taking a much more southerly route, soaking parts of the south while the far north west has remained unusually dry.

One of the main reasons for this is the position of the jet stream. This is a narrow band of fast flowing westerly winds (ie blowing from west to east) high in the atmosphere.

This band moves around and changes its track, and where it sits can impact the UK’s weather. When it flows to the north of the country it can guide low pressure systems away from the UK (but they often clip the far north west of the country as they pass by).

Throughout this June the jet stream has had a much more southerly track, allowing those low pressure systems – with their wind and rain – to come straight over the UK to bring heavy rain to more southern areas while the north west remains relatively unscathed.

You can find out more about the jet stream in our YouTube video.