Submitted by Lucy Barker on
With showers and plenty of warm sunshine, total rainfall for June was below average across most of Great Britain and the average temperature for the UK was moderately above average. A maximum temperature of 32.7oC was recorded at both Heathrow (Greater London) and Santon Downham (Suffolk) on the 17th. Although the warmth was bookended by unsettled conditions and interspersed with thundery showers, total UK rainfall was 77% of the June average. River flows continued to recede and were widely below average, with the north west (including Northern Ireland) the exception. Total outflows for England & Wales were the second lowest for June (in a series from 1961). Soil moisture deficits rose, except in the west, and the English Lowlands saw their fifth highest June deficit (also in a series from 1961). Groundwater levels receded in all aquifers and were generally in the normal range or below, with some notably low levels, reflecting the prolonged period of below average rainfall and increasing soil moisture deficits. Similarly, reservoir stocks fell, and although some increased relative to average (e.g. in western Scotland and Northern Ireland), others in the midlands (Derwent Valley), south west (Colliford and Wimbleball), and Wales (Brianne and Elan Valley) were especially low relative to average (with June anomalies exceeding 20%); reservoir stocks for Wales were the lowest recorded for the month of June. With river flows, groundwater levels and reservoir stocks widely below average, and current Outlooks favouring a continuation of this situation, there is a heightened risk of impacts on agriculture, the environment and water supplies in the coming months – hot, dry weather in early July further adds to this prospect.
