Climate scientists predict that by the end of the century storms like those that have swept across England this summer will hit Britain far more frequently. National average rainfall will increase by around 20 per cent, and much of that will fall in extreme, torrential downpours bringing a month's worth of rain in a single day.

The reason is that, as the climate warms, the atmosphere above our heads will be able to hold more and more moisture which, when it is eventually released as rain, means much heavier rain, explains Peter Stott, a climate scientist at the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Change.