{"id":568476,"date":"2026-07-31T10:54:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/568476\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T10:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:54:02","slug":"england-is-notoriously-rainy-yet-an-exceptionally-serious-drought-has-hit-half-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/568476\/","title":{"rendered":"England is notoriously rainy \u2014 yet an \u2018exceptionally serious\u2019 drought has hit half the nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

London\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n England is notoriously rainy \u2014 yet an \u201cexceptionally serious\u201d drought has hit half the nation after successive heat waves have parched the land, shrivelled rivers and put huge pressure on water supplies.\n <\/p>\n

\n A large stretch of central, eastern and southern England are enduring a \u201cflash drought\u201d brought on by a mix of high temperatures and low rainfall, the Environment Agency announced Wednesday<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition to rolling heat waves, the country has been grappling with a dearth of rain \u2014 just 7% of the average for this time of year, falling to 1% in some parts of the south. And there is no substantial rain forecast.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe hot and dry weather means we are currently using water faster than nature can replenish it,\u201d said Helen Wakeham, director of water at the Environment Agency. It\u2019s \u201can exceptionally serious situation and one that will have long-lasting impacts on our environment, wildlife, and the economy,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Millions are under hosepipe bans, parched yellow grass has replaced lush green fields and wildfire risk is increasing.\n <\/p>\n

\"Yellowed<\/p>\n

\n Rivers are running alarmingly low \u2014 with 78% below normal levels. Parts of the River Thames are tracking at record lows, while other waterways have seen an increase in algae growth as water temperatures rise.\n <\/p>\n

\n Farmers and experts are warning of a detrimental impact on food production. \u201cThe drought could have a direct knock-on effect on food supplies,\u201d said Pauline Scheelbeek, associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cRepeated disruption to vegetable production could make healthy food less affordable for households and have lasting effects on public health,\u201d Scheelbeek added.\n <\/p>\n

\"Water<\/p>\n

\n England has now experienced three droughts in the past five years, with 2026 joining 2022 and 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the country, famed for its gloomy skies and persistent rain, is also having to deal with very wet weather.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last winter was England\u2019s eighth wettest <\/a>on record, with rainfall 42% higher than the long-term average for the season.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then came a dramatic shift, when exceptional heat arrived. Last month was England\u2019s hottest June on record, as it sweltered under a heat wave that would have been virtually impossible without climate change, scientists found<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Wednesday, the Met Office confirmed a new England June daily temperature record of 38 degrees Celsius<\/a> (100.4 Fahrenheit) had been verified, higher than the 37.7 degrees Celsius (99.86 Fahrenheit) previously recorded.\n <\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

\n Scientists say the swing between wet and dry extremes \u2014 often called \u201cweather whiplash\u201d \u2014 is becoming more frequent and intense. It\u2019s \u201cindicative of what we expect in a warming world,\u201d said Jamie Hannaford, head of water resources and drought at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.\n <\/p>\n

\n It can also ramp up wildfire risk as the vegetation growth that surges during wet winters is then turned tinder-dry when the rain stops and the heat arrives.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n As human-driven climate change fuels more frequent extreme weather, experts say more must be done by governments to protect people, communities and the environment from disaster.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe need long-term planning for water resourcing in the UK,\u201d said Chloe Brimicombe, a climate scientist at the University of Oxford. This means \u201cinvestment in water infrastructure to maintain as much water as possible,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

\n England is currently in the throes of its fourth heat wave of the year. And, as in other nations, the extreme weather is taking a deathly toll.\n <\/p>\n

\n There were 2,877 heat-associated deaths<\/a> in the UK this year during two notable periods of hot weather in May and June, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said Thursday \u2014 almost double the number reported for the whole of 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, a major incident has been declared on the Suffolk coast, in the country\u2019s southeast, after a large wildfire broke out on Wednesday evening local time.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dozens of firefighters have been deployed to tackle the blaze, which is less than five miles from Sizewell B nuclear power station.\n <\/p>\n

\n There are few signs of relief, at least in the short term. \u201cThere is currently little sign of the widespread, sustained rainfall that would be needed to make a significant difference to the areas most affected by the dry weather,\u201d said Will Lang, the Met Office\u2019s chief meteorologist.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 England is notoriously rainy \u2014 yet an \u201cexceptionally serious\u201d drought has hit half the nation after successive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-568476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}