Many parts of England and Wales recorded record rainfall in the 3-month period May to July 2007. Two events in particular resulted in approximately $10 billion damage to property and infrastructure. The exceptional rainfall in this 3-month period appears to be a consequence of the jet stream over the North Atlantic being further south and stronger than is typical for this time of year. An additional factor may have been the warmer than normal waters in the eastern North Atlantic.

Advances in numerical weather prediction, in particular higher resolution regional and local models and ensembles, enabled forecaster at the UK Met Office to give several days warning of the probability of rainfall totals of 100 mm during the rainfall events of June 25 and July 20 2007.