IF more rain falls in Oxford today it could make this January the wettest on record.

By yesterday, total rainfall levels for the month hit a high of 136.7mm.

The wettest January ever recorded at the city’s Radcliffe Meteorological Station, on Woodstock Road, was in 1852, when there was 138.7mm of rainfall.

Climate expert Dr Ian Ashpole, who takes daily readings at Radcliffe, Britain’s oldest weather station, said: “There have been a lot of days in which a high level of rain has been recorded this month.”

Dr Ashpole confirmed that following the high levels of rain since the New Year, this month is on the verge of being the wettest January since records began.

The Met Office forecast light rain in Oxford today, with more rainfall over the next week. Flood alerts remain in place for the whole county.

Rainfall records began at Radcliffe in 1767.

The station is situated next to the old observatory in the gardens of Green Templeton College.