Sigh. >Annual mean precipitation over England and Wales has not changed significantly since records began in 1766. Seasonal rainfall is highly variable, but ap

Sigh. >Annual mean precipitation over England and Wales has not changed significantly since records began in 1766. Seasonal rainfall is highly variable, but appears to have decreased in summer and increased in winter, although with little change in the latter over the last 50 years. [0] >The results suggest that there have been trends towards more protracted high flows over the last 30–50 years, but that this could be accounted for as part of climatic variation rather than climate change. There is no statistical evidence of a long–term trend in flooding over the last 80–120 years. Thus, although climate change could be influencing floods, direct analysis of flood records does not yet provide proof. [1] >The adjusted record shows no trend in reported flooding over time, but there is significant decade to decade variability. [2] >A rising population, more households and greater wealth have led to an ever greater demand for water, putting the limited supply in the south of England under stress. [3] So no, if we like an evidence based approach, climate change has not had any measurable effect on precipitation, flooding or water shortages in the UK. These are basically seasonal variations exposing infrastructure weaknesses. [0] p12 : http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/UKCP09_Trends.pdf http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/UKCP09_Trends.pdf [1] http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/360/1796/1327.short http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/360/1796/1327... [2] http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.950581 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.950581 [3] http://catchments.nerc.ac.uk/issues/crisis/index.asp http://catchments.nerc.ac.uk/issues/crisis/index.asp