Drought declared in north west England following sunniest spring on record
Some 630 hours of sunshine were clocked up across the whole country between 1 March and 27 May, according to provisional figures from the Met Office, beating the previous record of 626 hours set in 2020.
The Environment Agency has now said that weeks of unusually dry weather have resulted in the region going into drought status on 21 May. It follows the region being placed in 'dry weather status' on 30 April.
Rainfall between February and April in the north west was the third lowest on record since 1871 and while rain fell over the weekend, it has not been enough to see the region avoid drought status.
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: 'Across the north west we officially entered drought status on 21 May due to low water levels in reservoirs and rivers.
'Despite the rain over the weekend levels remain low and we are encouraging people to be aware of the impacts of drought as we enter the summer period.'
The spokesperson added: 'With further unsettled periods and rainfall over the coming weeks we will continue to closely monitor the situation and implement our North West Drought Plan.'
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