Why is the UK so rainy this year and how is the climate crisis making matters worse?

Flood water covering Worcester racecourse on Monday. Astwood Bank in Worcester has recorded rain every day of the year so far. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

In a “miserable and relentlessly wet” start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end.

With more than 100 flood warnings in force across the country and further downpours forecast this week, scientists say the atmospheric forces behind Britain’s endless drizzle are the same ones driving devastating floods across Spain and Portugal.