A flooding event is defined as any occasion in which river water encroaches onto the adjacent floodplain. In the case of Nether Heyford this occurs when the monitoring gauge reads 71.55m which has not occurred since March/April 2018. However with the recent changes in the weather pattern as a result of the jet stream being centered to the south of the UK, 2019 has seen increased rainfall totals per month since June .This has resulted in saturated ground and increased run off in the catchment area. This culminated in flooding on 15th October when Broad Meadow opposite Crow Lane and the fields downstream of the Bridge were flooded.
Since Easter floods of 1998 such events have occurred on average 2.5 times a year. Tracing events back to 1947 the trend has been increasing until the latest changes in weather pattern over the last 2 years. Clearly climate change is taking place with weather becoming more unpredictable as evident when comparing rainfall in June 2018 of 1mm to June 2019 of 97mm.
J.Arnold
