‘Wrong sort of rain’ no help for drought

An official drought was declared in eight areas of England on Friday by the National Drought Group (NDG), which comprises representatives from the government, water companies, the Environment Agency (EA) and others.

Three water companies – Welsh Water, Southern Water, and South East Water – have all imposed hosepipe bans, while Yorkshire Water has announced a ban will start on August 26 and Thames Water is planning one in the coming weeks.

Dan Stroud, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said that despite the forecast of intense showers over the next few days, it is unlikely to help the drought.

“It will help a little but to be honest really, it’s almost the wrong sort of rain,” he said. “What we’re likely to see is some heavy, intense downpours. With the ground baked so dry, it’s very difficult for the ground to actually absorb the water very quickly.

“So what tends to happen in these circumstances is the water runs off and we can potentially get some surface run-off issues, so some flash floods.”

The weather warning for Northern Ireland and Scotland spreads to England and Wales today and tomorrow, with just the south west and south east of England facing a third day of yellow warnings on Wednesday until 11.59pm, as the rain eases off elsewhere.

Mr Stroud said the drastic change in weather is due to an alteration in the air pressure.