Parts of England are one step away from drought as rivers hit ‘exceptionally low’ levels, climate experts warn

Parts of southern, central and eastern England have been moved to “prolonged dry weather” status – the stage before drought – as rivers run dry, reservoirs drop and more than 20 million people face hosepipe bans

England has entered widespread prolonged dry weather conditions after exceptionally low July rainfall has left rivers, reservoirs and groundwater supplies under increasing pressure.

According to the Met Office, England has had just 3% of its average July rainfall so far. Some parts of the south and east haven’t seen any rain at all, and in Wisley, Surrey, the dry spell has now stretched to 33 consecutive days. That comes on the back of a very dry spring in similar regions and a summer that’s already produced three widespread heatwaves.

On Tuesday this week, the National Drought Group – which brings together the Met Office, water companies, the NFU and other expert bodies – formally moved large parts of England into “prolonged dry weather” status. That’s the stage directly before a drought gets declared.

East Anglia, the West Midlands, Devon and Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, London and several other southern and eastern regions are all now also on that list.

Rivers running dry, reservoirs dropping

On top of England’s new dry weather status, the Environment Agency has announced that 87% of river catchments in England are now at “below normal to exceptionally low levels”. The Rivers Avon, Cam, Derwent, Swale, Tone, Wye and Yare are all described as “exceptionally low” while National reservoir storage is 5% below the long-term average.

Water

Original Record.

This archived record authored by ‘Lee Bell’ at ‘METEORED (Your Weather)’ was recovered from data set:

https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/science/draft-parts-of-england-are-one-step-away-from-drought-as-rivers-hit-exceptionally-low-levels-experts-warn.html