Southern England saw not only its driest July but also its driest month ever recorded, in what the Met Office called one of the “most notable summer months” since records began.
Forecasters said last month was a double-record breaker for both England and Wales, with both nations experiencing their sunniest July since data began – as well as their driest.
It comes amid a summer of extreme heat and dry weather across the country, which has seen four back-to-back heatwaves and left all of Wales and half of England plunged into drought.
Parts of the UK have gone more than 40 days without rain, leaving land dry and parched, with farmers warning the exceptionally dry conditions could lead to food shortages later in the year.
The Met Office said increasingly extreme conditions are becoming the new norm as records continue to tumble amid climate change.
New data from the forecaster shows just 1.9mm rain was measured across Southern England last month, narrowly beating the previous record low of 2.0mm in February 1891. It was also the driest July for England and Wales since records began in 1836, according to provisional figures released.
England saw just 6.5mm of rain across July, or 10 per cent of the long-term average for the month, less than half of the previous record of 13.4mm set in 1911, and 19 counties recorded less than (or equal to) 1mm of rainfall across the entire month.
Wales had 9.3mm of rainfall, or 9 per cent of the average, again well below the previous record of 22.6mm set in 1911. Northern Ireland saw its eighth driest July, with 26.9mm of rain, the equivalent of 30 per cent the average for the month. Scotland was the only nation not to trouble the record books last month, with 69 per cent of its average rainfall.
The UK as a whole experienced its third driest July on record, with 28.9mm of rain: the lowest figure for the month since 1868.
England clocked up 305.6 hours of sunshine across the month, surpassing the previous July record of 294.8 hours set in 1911, while Wales saw 308.0 hours, beating the previous record of 297.5 hours in 1955.
Wales equalled its record for the highest mean temperature across the month, at 17.8C, matching the figure reached in 2006, while England saw its second warmest July on record, with a mean temperature of 19.2C – just below the record of 19.3C set in 2006.
The summer of extreme weather has seen two record-breaking heatwaves, in May and June, that led to more than 2,800 excess deaths, and two more heatwaves in July that has fuelled drought and wildfires, including on Dunwich Heath in Suffolk last week.
The National Drought Group, whose members include the Met Office, government, regulators, water companies and farmers, says the extreme weather is having a severe effect on the environment and is affecting water supplies and food production.
Farmers say the heat is drying out cereals, while some livestock are already being fed winter feed. Harvests have begun early and there is a greater risk combine harvesters catching fire because of the heat.
The week started with another spike as temperatures hit as high at 33C in the South East. A number of amber and yellow heat health alerts are in place until Wednesday morning as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warns the latest high temperatures could put extra pressure on the NHS, with more vulnerable people likely to require medical treatment.
Temperatures are expected to gradually decrease in the second half of the week, and there is some more unsettled weather forecast for parts of the UK including a yellow warning for thunderstorms in Northern Ireland.
But the South East will continue to see little in the way of desperately needed rain, the Met Office has warned.
“A change in weather type early next week will see warmer conditions return across England and Wales but in contrast to much of the summer, this will be associated with showers or perhaps thunderstorms for some places,” said Met Office chief forecaster Chris Bulmer.
“However, some parts of the south will only see small amounts of rain. It will stay cooler in the north with the potential for heavy rain to build up, especially over parts of Scotland.”
Met Office science manager Dr Amy Doherty described July as a “truly remarkable month” in the UK’s climate record.
“The combination of record-breaking dryness, exceptional warmth and unprecedented sunshine has delivered one of the most notable summer months in our historical records,” she said.
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