Can rain really come from the ‘wrong direction’? Scientists set the record straight after bumbling Environment Secretary Therese Coffey uses bizarre excuse for Storm Babet

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey raised eyebrows yesterday when she appeared to blame Storm Babette’s flooding on rain coming from the wrong direction.

During questioning by MPs, the minister suggested that Britain was less prepared for the recent heavy rains because they came from the east rather than the west.

She explained that forecasters are “pretty good” at predicting showers sweeping across the Atlantic, but added: “This was rain coming from the other direction, and we don’t have as much experience with that.”

“So our accuracy in predicting where such heavy rainfall would fall was not as accurate as it would have been,” Coffey told the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

So, can rain really come from the “wrong direction”? MailOnline spoke to a number of scientists who question this explanation.

Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said weather forecasting models “don’t care about which direction the rain is coming from.”

He told MailOnline: ‘It is unusual for the drier eastern side of the UK to experience such an intense and prolonged deluge, but our weather forecasts are full of observations and more complete physics, which does not care about the direction of rainfall.’ Coming from and thus they are able to provide valuable and high-quality forecasts.

Lee Chapman, professor of climate resilience at the University of Birmingham, agrees that “weather forecasting doesn’t care” if the rain comes from the east or the west.

He added: “It is true that rainfall in the east of the UK is much lower than in other parts of the UK.

“However, this has no impact on the intensity or duration of rainfall received during the event.

“The fact that Brechin, one of the places hardest hit by Cyclone Babette, has flooded several times previously underscores that there are no reasons why the east should be less prepared than other parts of the country.”

Professor Allan explained that global warming was partly to blame for the deluge being so bad.

“(This) increases the amount of moisture in the air, making heavy rainfall more intense,” he said.

Professor Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said Britain’s weather had become “more variable and more intense than it was three or four decades ago”.

She added: “We have also seen increases in rainfall, particularly heavy rainfall that can lead to flash flooding, which is another impact of climate change in the UK.”

“The bottom line is that we can expect (and are already seeing) more extreme rainfall events anywhere in the country under climate change, and better preparedness is needed,” said Edward Hanna, professor of climate science at the University of Lincoln.

He told MailOnline: ‘Last week’s storm was not unprecedented.

“We have previously seen other storms or low pressure systems with rain creeping into parts of eastern and central England from the east or south-east, for example, heavy rain in Sheffield and Hull and the effects of catastrophic flooding in June 2007 are particularly memorable.

“The eastern sides of England and Scotland are usually relatively protected from prevailing weather systems carrying rain from the Atlantic, but this is not always the case if weather systems stall or take a different path.”

Ms Coffey’s explanation also sparked an angry reaction from the Lib Dems, who said she should “take control” and “stop blaming everyone else for her failures”.

However, it is true that the western parts of the UK tend to receive more rain than the east, as is the case with the north rather than the south.

Richard Washington, professor of climate science at Oxford University, was more sympathetic to the minister’s reasoning.

“I can see what the Environment Secretary was saying,” he told MailOnline.

“It’s not that the storm wasn’t expected – it’s that planning and positioning of assets to deal with severe weather is generally prepared for the typical conditions we face. And rightly so.

“Our rainy and windy weather usually comes from the west, and is usually associated with low pressure systems moving from west to east.

“Babbit also traveled from west to east but was centered directly over England, changing wind and weather patterns.”

Areas with heavy rainfall include northwest England – especially the Lake District of Cumbria and the west-facing slopes of the Pennines – and west and mid Wales – especially the mountainous region of Snowdonia in the north.

Parts of Northern Ireland and southwest England – especially the highlands of Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor – are also getting heavy rain.

Explaining why, the Met Office said: “Prevailing warm, humid westerly winds mean the west of the UK is likely to receive rainfall from Atlantic weather systems.”

“These typically move from west to east across the UK, and when they do the amount of rain that deposits decreases.

“This is because the mountains of the north and west of the UK force the prevailing westerly winds to rise, cooling the air and thus promoting the formation of clouds and rain in these locations.”

The jet stream – a fast-moving band of air high in the atmosphere – is also responsible for directing weather systems towards the UK from the Atlantic Ocean.

It has a warm side to the south and a cold side to the north and can have a big impact on the type of weather we experience.

At least seven people are now believed to have died amid the carnage brought by Storm Babette.

Thirteen regions broke their October daily rainfall averages last week. While pFlood reports submitted to the Environment Agency have reached the highest level since 2015/16.

More than 300 flood warnings were issued, hundreds of people were left homeless, and around 1,250 properties were flooded in England.

Coffey, who was previously deputy prime minister, told MPs that a “rapid review” would be conducted to assess how the impact of Storm Babbitt was being dealt with.

She noted that it was difficult to predict where resources would be needed because of the direction from which the devastating rains arrived.

In response to her comments, Tim Farron, the Lib Dems’ environment spokesman, said: “This is a new low for the Environment Secretary who can only say or do the wrong thing.”

“Therese Coffey’s blaming the wind for the government’s failure to protect homes from floods would be comical if so many had not suffered so badly at the hands of its incompetence.”