{"id":99927,"date":"2026-08-08T22:41:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/99927\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:41:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:41:50","slug":"when-the-drought-could-finally-end-as-sixth-heatwave-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/99927\/","title":{"rendered":"When the drought could finally end as sixth heatwave looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drought conditions<\/a> may last into September across large parts of the UK, with no substantial rainfall forecast in southern parts of the country during August.<\/p>\n

Some areas could experience a sixth heatwave next week. Although weather<\/a> experts say this month will not be as dry as the record-breaking July<\/a>, even a return to more normal levels of summer rainfall is unlikely to replenish low water levels in rivers and reservoirs<\/a> in the short term. <\/p>\n

At a national level, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to get the 31 days of completely dry conditions that we had in July\u201d, says Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are more unsettled already, back to more like normal summer weather, and there will be some rain around next week.\u201d <\/p>\n

That will be mainly in northern Britain, however. In the south, \u201calmost entirely dry conditions\u201d are expected to continue for weeks and there could be more extreme heat this month. <\/p>\n

It means some places could be in drought for several more weeks<\/a> at least.<\/p>\n

The UK had an unprecedented heatwave in May, before the hottest June day on record with a peak of 36.1\u00b0C. That was followed by the sunniest and driest July ever known in England and Wales, with just 10 per cent of the average rainfall throughout the month. <\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s rainfall since the start of June is just 51 per cent of what we would expect across an average summer, albeit with a few weeks of the season still to come. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is definitely going to be right up there as one of the most remarkable summers,\u201d says Lang. But what could the impacts be?<\/p>\n

\"WaterWater levels are low at Lockwood Reservoir near Walthamstow in north London (Photo: Henry Nicholls\/AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

How this compares to 1976\u2019s scorching summer <\/p>\n

Some people have drawn comparisons with the infamous summer of 1976<\/a> when people had to queue for water from communal standpipes. <\/p>\n

This summer is nowhere near the country\u2019s driest, however, and the UK is unlikely to face the challenges of 50 years ago for several important reasons. <\/p>\n

Because of a wet start to June, the UK has had a national average of 130.2mm of rain so far this summer, which is already well above the 107.3mm of 1976 \u2013 and the record low of 105.9mm in 1995. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s often forgotten that the scorching summer of 1976 was the climax of a far longer drought. The dry period began in May the previous year. The following 16 months were the driest period of such a length for over 200 years. <\/p>\n

In contrast, 2026 began with one of the wettest winters on record and warnings of flood risks. Plus, we\u2019re better able to manage supplies these days. <\/p>\n

\u201cInvestments in upgraded network infrastructure enable companies to move water more effectively between regions compared to the isolated systems of 50 years ago,\u201d says Rob Wilby, professor of hydroclimatic modelling at Loughborough University. He adds that leakage has fallen by 43 per cent since privatisation in 1989, according to Ofwat.<\/p>\n

\"SheepSheep search for any remaining green grass in Bucknell, Shropshire (Photo: Mike Kemp\/In Pictures via Getty)<\/p>\n

Although there have been localised problems this year, especially in Kent, there is \u201cno prospect\u201d of people across the country needing to line up for water in their streets because of national shortages, says Dr Glenn Watts of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. <\/p>\n

But Dr Watts says if it stays dry for the rest of the summer, low river levels may cause further mass fish deaths. These may pose problems for some farms and factories that take water directly from rivers, and can be \u201ccompletely devastating\u201d for small angling businesses. <\/p>\n

In England, 78 per cent of rivers were below normal levels last week, with one sixth being \u201cexceptionally low\u201d, according to official figures. <\/p>\n

Some lakes and rivers have hundreds of dead fish floating on their surfaces, due to algae, pollution and a lack of oxygen all worsened by the heat and lack of rainfall. <\/p>\n

If this winter is dry like 1975\/76, \u201cthen next year would be increasingly difficult\u201d, says Watts.<\/p>\n

However, he underlines that dry winters \u201care not that common\u201d, especially as climate change is making the UK\u2019s coldest months much wetter on average. The world is also entering an El Ni\u00f1o weather pattern, which tends to mean more rainfall in Britain towards a year\u2019s end. <\/p>\n

\"AA helicopter water bombs a Cairngorm wildfire (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Farming nightmares \u2013 and dangers when rain does arrive <\/p>\n

The National Farmers\u2019 Union warns this is \u201cone of the most severe droughts many farmers and growers have lived through\u201d. <\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s cereal harvest<\/a> is set to be the worst since records began 41 years ago, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, disrupting food supplies. Vegetables could be smaller and more expensive in the months to come. <\/p>\n

Crops of wheat and barley have been badly affected, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, and shortages of cucumbers have been reported. Besides what we eat ourselves, it\u2019s limiting supplies of livestock feed. <\/p>\n

Relying on imported food is tricky as much of Europe struggles too. Supermarkets won\u2019t be empty but some items may run out and others will become pricier. <\/p>\n

\"AgricultureAgriculture is struggling at sites including Shimpling park farm in Bury St Edmunds (Photo: Toby Shepheard\/AFP via Getty)<\/p>\n

Another big question is whether the drought ends suddenly with huge downpours in thunderstorms. \u201cThe baked landscapes around us increase the likelihood of flash floods<\/a>,\u201d warns Prof Wilby. This is because harder ground absorbs less water, meaning it can pool far more quickly. <\/p>\n

In July 2021, flash floods closed emergency departments at two hospitals in east London. In August 2023, a downpour killed a couple in their 70s who became trapped inside their car in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

There are dangers for wildlife and river health too, says Paul Shaffer of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management explains. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe paving in our urban areas will have been collecting a month\u2019s worth of pollution,\u201d he explains. Oils, brake dust and other chemicals from cars are normally washed away every few days, meaning they\u2019re relatively diluted. But if there is severe rainfall after a long period of dry weather, \u201cthat first flush can wash a lot of toxins into our water courses all at once\u201d.<\/p>\n

More gradual ends to droughts can also be problematic, says Wilby. If people see that it\u2019s started drizzling outside, they may immediately think it\u2019s ok to start watering their gardens more freely again.<\/p>\n

But shortages can last for weeks or even months after rain has returned. <\/p>\n

@robhastings.bsky.social<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drought conditions may last into September across large parts of the UK, with no substantial rainfall forecast in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[602,24467,38658,1311,5,6,150,5632],"class_list":["post-99927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-crisis","tag-drought","tag-rain","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-weather","tag-weather-forecasts"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117062306655385043","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}