More Than Half of England Officially in Drought
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- Environment Agency declared drought in seven English regions — East Anglia, Hertfordshire and London, Thames Valley, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Devon and Cornwall, West Midlands, and Wessex — covering large parts of central, eastern and southern England
- July rainfall in England reached only 7% of expected levels, with just 1% across southern England, per the Environment Agency
- Helen Wakeham, Environment Agency director of water and chair of the National Drought Group, said "we are currently using water faster than nature can replenish it," with impacts including low river flows, early harvests, high wildfire risk and millions of people under hosepipe bans
- Natural Resources Wales confirmed North Wales and the Upper Severn river basin entered drought conditions last week, while parts of eastern Scotland are in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's most extreme "significant scarcity" category
- Met Office verification raised the 26 June 2026 temperature at Lingwood, Norfolk from 37.7C to 38.0C, surpassing the UK's previous June high of 35.6C, as some areas enter their fourth heatwave of 2026
- 2026 marks the third drought in five years for England, following declared droughts in 2022 and 2025
Why it matters: England has now had three official droughts in five years, signaling a rapid shift from periodic to near-cyclical water stress. With July rainfall collapsing to 1% of normal in the south and reservoirs drawn down, millions face hosepipe bans now and the risk of deeper restrictions if autumn rains fail to materialize.
