The heavens opened, the rains fell and Bradford got soaked. And despite a drier spell predicted for today we have not yet seen the last of the unseasonably mild, wet weather.

The district saw almost half of December's rainfall average fall in just 12 hours.

According to the Press Association weather centre, between 6pm yesterday and 6am today, 27mm of rain fell. A further 8mm had fallen in the preceding 12 hours. The average monthly rainfall for the area is 60mm.

As some rivers raged, an Environment Agency spokesman said the rivers Aire and Wharfe were being closely monitored but were not on flood warnings.

But it was a close run thing.

The swollen River Aire at Baildon Bridge looked ready to burst its banks today.

A torrent of white water had nudged up the flood marker to 6.2 metres high and was pouring through the top of the bridge arches.

"We were expecting heavy rain until noon today but then it was due to fall more steadily," said the spokesman. "Tomorrow is expected to be dry but the land will still be saturated."

The spokesman said most of the district - including those areas susceptible to flooding - could expect to escape moping up.

This month will also be one of the mildest on record, apart from a cold spell at the beginning of the month.

"The reason why we've been having mild winters is because of global warming," said the spokesman. "We have also had a lot of south-westerly winds over the last few years bringing mild winters to the UK."

He said tomorrow was likely to be very chilly in Bradford with highs of just

4-6C (39-43F) and even the chance of a few snowflakes on higher ground. But on New Year's Day the weather looks likely to become milder again.

But don't celebrate just yet - its likely to get colder next month.

"At the moment, Yorkshire has mild air to the west and cold air to the east," said the spokesman. "The cold air will push in tomorrow but warm air will take over on New Year's Day. It is likely to get colder in January."

The mild weather is a far cry from the cold snaps of winters gone by in Bradford.

In December 1981, 22cms of snow lay in Bradford but it was not declared an official white Christmas because it had not fallen on Christmas Day. But when snow fell in December 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2000, all were classed as white Christmases and the bookies paid out.

This festive period has instead been unseasonably wet, with flood warnings being issued for 14 rivers and another 62 being monitored nationally.

The early months of the year are now much more likely to see snowfall. February 1991 brought cold weather and heavy snow to Bradford. North-east winds brought cold air from Russia which led to snow across most of Britain and very low temperatures.

The cold air arrived on February 4 and temperatures fell on February 5 and 6. Some places had 48 hours of snowfall and 50cm fell in Bradford. Even London had 20cm of snow - the deepest cover since December 1962.

From February 5 to 10, temperatures did not rise above freezing in many places and the minimum temperature recorded in Bradford was -7.2C. The city also had 14 days of snow.

That year also saw British Rail's infamous "wrong type of snow" which was dry and powdery and brought chaos to commuters. The eventual thaw brought flooding to North Yorkshire.

On December 30, 1995, Britain's lowest December temperataure was recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands and was a body-numbing -27C.

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