Met Office warns that drought that caused hosepipe bans across UK could continue into winter
Met Office and the Environmental Agency, September, October and November, the current appearance of the 30 -year average is more likely for more wet and more severe conditions, he says.
However, they warn that the expected rainfall may not be enough to fully reversed the serious impact of this year’s record -breaking dry and hot summer, which sees that several regions declare the status of drought and apply Hosepipe bans.
At the same time, it means that the UK regions can experience both drought and floods at the same time as the storm season began and flood risks increase.
The warning is coming because the government’s flooding task force will be gathered almost on Monday to discuss preparations for recent progress on possible floods and defenses in the coming months.
Last September is working on task force, warning systems, real -time data and support of flood defenses to increase the reaction of the country to extreme weather conditions.
The Met Office said that autumn appearance will help the task force to prepare for the next winter and will ensure better protection of communities than the flood effect.
Chief Meteorologist Will Lang said that the general signal for wet air is the UK average and that the rainfall would probably change significantly in regions ve and have a flood risks due to various factors.
“Typically, the possibility of Western air patterns that bring more precipitation to the western and northern regions of the UK increases, and the eastern and southern regions may experience dry conditions than the national average proposed,” he said.
However, Mr. Lang said that the current appearance for rain in autumn was not enough to reverse the effects of drought, especially in England.
“We will need more rain than that.”
As Mr. Lang explains, England has a more likely way to see a warmer autumn than the average: “Nowadays we tend to get this for seasonal forecasts, and this is a reflection of our heating climate and how much has changed in the last 30 years.”
Caroline Douglass, General Manager of Flood and Coastal Risk Management at the Environmental Agency, said that the first wash of heavy rain in the dry, hard soil can cause floods, but could wash the pollutants on waterways and cause them to kill fish.
“What we want is not a sudden rainfall everywhere, not flood events, but a beautiful, stable, flowing rain that really awakens things in a good way,” he said.
“But we know that it never works as we want… (definitely not yet the end of a drought.”
He asked whether the status of drought of the fields can continue in winter and said, “This is a purely probability.
“If you don’t get rainfall in places that are already in drought or long -term dry weather, then you may have the status of drought in certain places.
“It will really depend on where the rain goes down.”
The Environmental Agency said that as long as the task force continues to take measures to protect properties, it will see that the country’s up and less community flood protection has increased.
Douglass said that the agency has invested better protection for approximately 27,500 properties in 145 plans between March 2024 and March 2025, and that it was on the road to meet 52,000 targets until March 2026.
The study is part of the government’s investment of £ 2,65 billion for two years to raise and create new flood defenses throughout the country.
“When entering autumn, we should consider the risk of floods even if drought is still felt in some parts of the country,” he said.
“We will continue to support the flood resistance of the country by working in the form of flooding task with our partners and providing new floods and coastal defenses in towns and cities throughout the country.”
However, people should make preparations such as referring to resources such as the National Flood Forum and Local Authorities, registering for warnings and not going through flood waters.
“We know that we cannot prevent water raids in all scenarios,” he added.
“We know that this can still happen and we have to make sure that people are preparing.”
