England recorded 5.6mm of rain in July, up to the 30th. That is 8% of its long-term average for the month, and less than half the previous low of 13.4mm, set in 1911. Wales did slightly worse in relative terms: 7.9mm, also 8% of average, against a 1911 record of 22.6mm.
Those are provisional Met Office figures, published on July 31 with one day of the month left, and they could still shift. On them, both countries are on course for their driest July in 190 years of records. Several English counties saw less than 1mm across the whole month so far.
The regional split
Southern England was driest of all at 1.5mm, 2% of its monthly average. The UK as a whole stood at 35% of average rainfall, the third driest July on record and the driest nationally since 1868. Northern Ireland sat eighth driest at 27%. Scotland had 72% of its average and did not make the top ten.
More than half of England and the whole of Wales were officially in drought. “The headline story for July is undoubtedly the rainfall,” said Met Office scientist Dr Emily Carlisle. She described totals across parts of England and Wales as extraordinarily low, with some places recording little or no meaningful rain for much of the month.
Heat and sun
The dry spell came with heat. Wales was tracking its warmest July on record by mean temperature, England its joint warmest, the UK as a whole its second warmest and Northern Ireland its third. Mean temperatures across southern England ran 3.2C above average. Scotland stayed outside its top ten.
Sunshine followed the same pattern. England and Wales were each heading for their second sunniest July, and the UK for its fourth sunniest since records began in 1910.
What came next
The weekend forecast was fine with sunny spells. From Monday, low pressure was due to push in from the southwest, bringing potentially heavy rain to parts of the north and showers in the south, along with warmer, more humid air. Chris Bulmer, the Met Office’s chief forecaster, said some southern areas would still see only small amounts of rain.
The Met Office works out its monthly statistics from HadUK-Grid data, which interpolates weather observations onto a 1km by 1km grid covering the whole UK. Some records stretch back to 1836. Full provisional July statistics were due on the afternoon of Monday, August 3.
