Submitted by Steve Turner on
For the most part, November was a settled but wintery month with little appreciable rainfall. Storm ‘Arwen’ was most notable for significant wind damage after a rare, red weather warning was issued on the 26th/27th. Three people lost their lives, thousands of trees were felled and hundreds of thousands of homes were without power for several days (in some cases, for over two weeks) across northern England. Rainfall for the UK was less than two-thirds of average, with exceptionally dry conditions in southern England. Correspondingly, river flows and soil moisture were in the normal range to notably low. Groundwater levels fell in most boreholes in England; despite this, levels were predominantly in the normal range to above normal. Month-end reservoir stocks varied across the UK although in general, fell relative to average and approached 20% below average at Silent Valley, Bradford Supply and Derwent Valley. Despite the dry November, the water resources situation is healthy entering the winter (overall stocks for England & Wales were near-average), and current outlooks suggest normal to above normal flows in northern areas, with elevated flood risk in the short term following a wetter start to December.
