UK weather: Rain set ease for weekend as sunshine returns
Our analysis of rainfall data shows that parts of East Anglia and the south-east of England are very dry.
Across the entire county of Essex, about a fifth of the rain we usually expect by this time in the spring has fallen.
While March rainfall was well below average in eastern and south-eastern England, April started off even drier.
According to Met Office data, just 4.5mm of rain fell between 1-14 April, compared to the year’s average of around 20mm
By contrast, western Scotland has seen nearly twice the normal rainfall in April so far.
March was generally average across Scotland but a number of weather systems in April brought a lot of rainfall.
Looking at April alone, the whole of Scotland saw an average fall of 70mm compared to the 40mm you would usually expect at this stage of the month.
While many things can change in the second half of spring, the mostly dry weather is expected to continue next week.
Drought and tornado bans are widely highlighted in 2025, following the driest spring in 50 years and the hottest summer in history.
But in late March 2026 – after one of the wettest winters since 1836 – the Environment Agency confirmed that eastern England was the last area still in the process of ‘recovering’ to ‘normal’ conditions.
