The UK had the driest start to a year since the 1970s in 2022, with large parts of southern England receiving less than 50% of their normal winter rainfall. On top of that, southern England recently received just 17% of its average rainfall for July, in what was the country’s driest since 1935.
How the atmosphere circulates moisture is incredibly complex and so there is huge variability in rainfall from year to year. This makes it very difficult to conclude trends from past observations.
Temperature trends, meanwhile, are more straightforward: increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have raised average temperatures and made dry periods in Britain drier, as hotter weather evaporates more water. Short and intense rainfall, which does not replenish parched soils, rivers and aquifers as well as gentler, longer showers, is also increasingly common as warmer air can hold more moisture.
