Is the UK heading for another drought this summer?

Some parts of the UK have had one of the driest Aprils on record, with less than 1mm of rainfall.

Whilst water supplies are currently at normal levels, some will be drawing comparisons with this time last year when some places started heading into drought.

The lack of rain is by no means a nationwide picture though with Scotland and Northern Ireland seeing most of the rain with above average figures.

Winter rainfall helped replenish water supplies after 2025's dry summer but water stocks can fluctuate quickly with some river levels already starting to fall, raising concerns about what might happen in the months ahead.

'Water scarcity is already a real issue'

Image caption,

Andrew Blenkiron, Managing Director of Elveden Farms near Thetford, has had to start watering his crops earlier than normal

Overall the UK has received 23% less rain than average according to the official Met Office figures.

England has received just over a third of its average April rainfall. Parts of East Anglia and the South East, even less than that.

Provisional data for Shoeburyness in Essex for example shows that it has been the driest April on record, receiving only 0.6mm of rain recorded in the month - just 2% of the monthly average.

With less than 5% of average rainfall widely across Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, both places have experienced one of their driest Aprils on record.

Andrew Blenkiron, who manages 10,000 acres of farmland on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk, told BBC Weather that, after a dry March, they only received 2mm of rainfall in April compared to around 50mm on average.

It means that they've had to start applying water to their land about two weeks earlier than usual. He is concerned that the lack of rain could have a big impact on this years crop, "Basically it's dying on its feet. If we don't get that rain we find yield potential drops to about 50% of its maximum."

With four consecutive weeks of less than 10mm of rain in England, the Environment Agency said "river flows are now decreasing at the majority of sites."

Simon Fluendy, of Southern Water, which controls water supplies in parts of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said: "Water scarcity is a real issue in the south-east." Fluendy added that wet weather earlier in the year does not mean "there is no risk of drought."