Major flooding and increased flood frequency in Scotland since 1988

Since 1988, major floods have occurred on several of the largest rivers in Scotland, causing damage estimated to be in excess of US$170m. These events are clearly concentrated in western catchments, which have also shown increased frequencies of small events and increases in annual runoff. A climatic cause appears most likely and may also relate to similar changes observed in western Scandinavia; further work will examine these links more closely.