UK drought
Many people think that the UK is wet. It is in parts; however the amount of rainfall per capita is low in some areas of the country. Our temperate climate brings frequent rain, but the weather is very variable, with very dry spells possible at any time of year. For much of the country, low rainfall in winter rather than summer is the key determinant of potential drought as winter rainfall is critical for recharging aquifers that are important for maintaining river baseflows in the following summer. A series of dry months starts to cause environmental stress, with low river flows and groundwater levels. Public water supply is designed to cope easily with a few months of dry weather, but prolonged droughts require careful management.
Long droughts are a feature of the UK climate. 1975-76 is perhaps the most notorious drought of recent decades. In England and Wales, two consecutive dry winters were followed by a very hot and dry summer in 1976. Many restrictions on water use were introduced, including rota cuts in South Wales and standpipes in parts of Devon. Many trees died from moisture stress and the hot summer led to many fires on moorland and heathland. The drought broke with a very wet autumn in 1976.
Droughts are not confined to the drier parts of England. In 1995 a dry winter in the Pennines gave rise to very low reservoir levels in parts of Yorkshire. Road tankers were used to bring water from Northumbria to Yorkshire. There were also widespread droughts