The following information applies to the England SE & Central S district area and using a series back to 1914 (no further updates are planned)

• November 2004 to July 2006 - 17 out of these 21 months recorded below 1961-1990 average rainfall.
• November 2004 to July 2006 - Driest equivalent period (fixed 21-month period) since November 1932 to July 1934, and 3rd driest in series.

• Annual 2005 - 4th driest year in the series, and driest since 1973.
• November 2004 - 8th driest November in series.
• January 2006 - 8th driest January in series.
• May 2006 - 8th wettest May in series.
• Slightly above average rainfall for August 2006 and September 2006, and then above-average rainfall for October, November and December 2006, reduced the significance of the dry spell considerably.

Map showing standard areas used to generate climatologies

The main period of the meteorological dry spell was November 2004 to July 2006, with 17 out of these 21 months recording below average rainfall across England SE & Central S district area.

By the end of December 2006, the situation had improved considerably, after above-average rainfall over the period August 2006 to December 2006.

The driest area compared to average for the period November 2004 to December 2006 was Cornwall, which had provisionally recorded 82% of average rainfall over this 26-month period.

UK rainfall anomaly maps

A complete set of monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall anomaly maps is available at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/

This includes the following periods starting November 2004, which was the start of the dry spell.

Nov 04 - Apr 05 | Nov 04 - May 05 | Nov 04 - Jun 05 | Nov 04 - Jul 05 | Nov 04 - Aug 05
Nov 04 - Sep 05 | Nov 04 - Oct 05 | Nov 04 - Nov 05 | Nov 04 - Dec 05 | Nov 04 - Jan 06
Nov 04 - Feb 06 | Nov 04 - Mar 06 | Nov 04 - Apr 06 | Nov 04 - May 06 | Nov 04 - Jun 06
Nov 04 - Jul 06 | Nov 04 - Aug 06 | Nov 04 - Sep 06 | Nov 04 - Oct 06 | Nov 04 - Nov 06
Nov 04 - Dec 06

Annual 2005 | Annual 2006

Also periods starting October 2004 (October is the start of the conventional water year).
Oct 04 - Mar 05 | Oct 04 - Sep 05 | Oct 04 - Mar 06 | Oct 04 - Sep 06

Area values/anomalies for dry spell

Information for England SE & Central S district area

Individual monthly rainfall and seasonal rainfall information can be found from the following links.

2004 Monthly Summaries | 2005 Monthly Summaries | 2006 Monthly Summaries

Other links

The Met Office is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Water Watch - UK Hydrological Summaries (published jointly by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford and the British Geological survey)

Environment Agency's web site