Long-term rainfall and streamflow records for north central England: putting the Environmental Change Network site at Moor House, Upper Teesdale, in context

Abstract

Long-term rainfall and streamflow records for the Moor House National Nature Reserve and sites close by in the northern Pennines are analysed in order to place observations made since 1991 as part of the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) in context. Rainfall records for the Durham Observatory since 1880 and streamflow for the River Wear at Durham since 1958 provide a regional setting within which the upland records can be assessed. Since 1991, the most notable event has been the drought of the 1995 summer which followed one of the wettest winters on record. A strong tendency is noted for increased hydrological variability recently, with the contrast between winter and summer becoming more extreme, both for rainfall and runoff.