The Met Office has warned that rain expected over the coming days will not solve the UK's drought situation overnight, as some areas prepare for their first meaningful rainfall in weeks.
Showers expected but 'highly variable'
In an online forecast, Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern said Wednesday would be showery across the UK, with Northern Ireland and parts of western and central Scotland seeing 'frequent showers with heavy downpours, hail and thunder'. Southern areas would see 'fewer and further between' showers, while central England and eastern Wales could still experience downpours.
He said: 'I suspect many people across England and Wales will at least enjoy the feel of some rain falling out of the sky during the next few days, but it's not going to solve the drought situation overnight because we're not expecting huge amounts and it will be highly variable because a lot of it will come in the form of showers.'
Temperature outlook
On Wednesday, highs of 25C are expected in London, 20C in Cardiff, 19C in Manchester and 16C in Glasgow. Thursday will start with some very heavy showers across parts of northern England and north and west Wales, with frequent showers in the southwest, McGivern said. Temperatures will be below average for a large part of the UK on Thursday, which is 'something we've seen on only a handful of days this summer,' he added.
Hosepipe bans in force
A hosepipe ban began on Tuesday for all of Wessex Water's 1.4 million customers across Bath, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. It is the first ban the company has imposed in 50 years, since the summer of 1976.
Thames Water has urged customers to continue reducing water usage, noting that household demand has fallen by 3% across London and more than 6% across the Thames Valley and home counties since it introduced a hosepipe ban on July 23. In an update on Tuesday, the utility said London reservoir storage was at 74%, lower than expected for this time of year, but Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire was 92% full.
Rainfall in the Thames catchment area during July was less than 1mm, just 2% of the long-term average, while customers used about 100 million litres more water per day than normal. More than 27 million people across England have now had hosepipe use restricted after months of hot and dry weather. The cooler and wetter conditions come after the UK's fifth heatwave of the summer, during which the hottest day of the year was recorded at Kew Gardens, London, on Thursday when temperatures reached 38.1C.
