BBC North West Tonight - 'Wild Weather' Special

Following the 'Wild Weather' series on BBC One, BBC North West Tonight presenter Dianne Oxberry hosts a half-hour special on BBC One (Monday 20th September at 7.30pm), investigating the most brutal weather ever to hit the North West region, including hellish 1000 year storms, vicious tornadoes, deadly lightning and ruthless gale force winds.

Firstly, Dianne visits Seathwaite in the Lake District, officially the wettest place in England and the area most troubled by the destructive flooding last year, Dianne will also be visiting the people and places affected as they try to recover from the destruction caused by the storm.

At the National Grid High Voltage Laboratory at the University of Manchester, Dianne will also look at how the most destructive of lightning is created. She also talks to Victoria Pritchard from Ormskirk who was hit by a 100 million volts of lightning, and finding out why Victoria survived against all the odds.

At BAe Systems in Warton, Lancashire, Dianne will brave the equivalent of a Force 12 hurricane to recapture the effects of the strongest winds which battered the North West in January 2007, with gusts of 90 miles an hour during which nine people died - and just what caused the 'big freeze' in 1963?

Dianne says: "A year ago, would we really have anticipated the 1000 year storm, a savage snowy winter and a summer of drought? Probably not."

So what of the future? Scientists predict the North West will have warmer drier summers; milder, wetter winters; more flooding; more drought and stormier weather.

BBC English Regions Executive Producer for Wild Weather, Tony Parker, says, "We want to offer people a rich experience that enables them to look at their local weather patterns in a totally different light. Our weather presenters will embark on a journey where they explain the science behind local and regional weather patterns."

Further information on BBC Wild Weather can be found on bbc.co.uk/local or read Dianne’s personal account of her Wild Weather journey on North West Tonight’s Facebook http://www.facebook.com/bbcnorthwesttonight

BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Radio Merseyside, Radio Cumbria and BBC Radio Manchester are also covering Wild Weather with special broadcasts throughout the week.

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