Research and analysis

Dry weather and drought in England: 28 November to 4 December 2025

Updated 5 December 2025

Applies to England

1. Summary

The end of November and start of December was unsettled, with widespread wet weather. England as a whole received 149% of the long term average (LTA) for November, and all areas received above average rainfall. While it is a generally improving picture, it is important to note that some areas need continued average or above average rainfall to return to normal conditions by spring.

River flows have increased at most sites and three-quarters are now classed as normal or higher for the time or year. Soils are now wetter than would be expected at this time of year in north-west, north-east and central England. Soils remain driest in south-east and east England, although they are now around average for the time of year.  

Currently 3 Environment Agency areas remain classified as in drought, along with parts of Sussex (South East Water supply area). Area teams regularly meet to review the drought indicators. We will be actively reviewing what the generally improving situation this means for area drought status in the coming days and weeks.

Storage rose at almost all reported reservoirs. Total reservoir stocks for the period ending 2 December were 79.8%. This is an increase of 2.8% since last week. Four reservoirs are at or below half full – Wimbleball in the south-west, Ardingly and Bewl in the south-east and Hanningfield in the east of England. Defra granted South East Water a drought order for the River Ouse on 3 December to support the refill of Ardingly Reservoir should river flows fall again.

The Canal & River Trust network is seeing a continuing improvement in the overall situation. Navigations and canals that were closed for drought purposes over the summer have now reopened.

2. Area drought status

There has been no change to area drought status this week.

2.1 Areas in drought

• Yorkshire (YOR)
• East Midlands (EMD)
• West Midlands (WMD)
• Parts of Sussex aligning with South East Water supply areas

2.2 Areas in prolonged dry weather

• North East (NEA)
• Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire (LNA)
• East Anglia (EAN)
• Thames (THM)
• Wessex (WSX)
• Solent and South Downs (SSD) – remaining parts of area not in drought status

2.3 Areas in prolonged dry weather

• Cumbria & Lancashire (CLA)
• Greater Manchester Merseyside & Cheshire (GMC)

2.4 How the stages of drought response work

Area teams regularly meet to review the drought indicators. With the generally improving situation, it is likely that some areas will change status in the coming weeks.

Further detail of how we manage drought, including our four stages of drought response are available in section 4.2.1 of Drought: how it is managed in England.

3. Current water situation

Conditions remained unsettled and wet for all in the week up to 2 December, with particularly high rainfall totals in north-west, north-east and south-west England. November finished with at or above average rainfall across England. South-east England was the driest having received 100% of the LTA, while central England was the wettest with 188% of LTA rainfall. England as whole saw 149% of LTA rainfall in November.  

Soil moisture deficits have reduced across England. Soils are now wetter than would be expected at this time of year in north-west, north-east and central England. Soils remain driest in south-east and east England, although they are now around average for the time of year.

Following another wet week, river flows increased at most reported sites, with three-quarters classed as above normal or higher for the time of year, including all sites in south-west, central, north-west and north-east England. In east and south-east England, thirteen sites were classed as normal, and the Rivers Cam and Burn in east England were below normal for the time of year.   

Reservoir stocks across England for the period ending 2 December were 79.8%, having increased 2.8% in the past week. Storage rose at almost all reported reservoirs, with just a handful seeing stabilised storage or decreases. Four reservoirs remain at 50% full or lower, including Wimbleball in the south-west, Ardingly and Bewl in the south-east and Hanningfield in east England.  

Groundwater levels are rising at two thirds of sites across England, with a handful of chalk sites in south-east and east England continuing to recede. Recharge in limestone aquifers has been significant, with levels in the Cotswolds now normal for the time of year, having been lower than expected since April. The recharge of the Chalk aquifers is quite mixed. Sites in the north-east have been recharging to normal and above normal levels, while sites in the south remain normal or lower, including two exceptionally low sites in the Wessex and South Downs. 

Further details are available from Water situation reports for England.

4. Public water supply

Water companies in drought continue to follow their drought plans. Several water companies have seen their water resource situation improve over recent weeks following recent November rainfall. Many water companies remain concerned about recovery of water resources over winter if conditions result in below average rainfall.  

Water companies report their drought response using operational drought levels, from drought level 1 escalating to level 4. 

Companies not included are in business as usual (BAU) mode. We are regularly engaging with all companies and with Water UK on the situation.

4.1 Anglian Water

Anglian Water remains at drought level 1 in the following supply areas: Fenland, Norfolk Norwich and the Broads, Ruthamford Central, North, South and West. Lincolnshire Central and Essex South have moved from drought level 1 into business as usual from 10 November. Reservoir levels have seen an increase following recent significant rainfall.

4.2 Cambridge Water

Cambridge Water remains at drought level 1.

4.3 Essex and Suffolk Water

Essex and Suffolk Water remains at drought level 1 in its Essex and Northern Central supply areas and has moved into drought level 1 in its Blyth and Hartismere areas.

4.4 Northumbrian Water

Northumbrian Water remains at drought level 1.

4.5 SES Water

SES Water has moved from drought level 1 into business as usual. Bough Beech reservoir has increased to 53.4% as of 30 November, compared to 49.3% last week.

4.6 Southern Water

Southern Water is in drought level 2 in its Sussex Worthing supply area and drought level 1 in its Kent Medway West, Sussex Hastings and Kent Medway East. 

4.7 South East Water

South East Water remains at drought level 2 in its resource zones 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8. Resource zones 4 and 5 are in drought level 1. As of 2 December, Ardingly reservoir was at 44.43% total capacity. South East Water was granted its Ardingly winter drought permit on 22 September and was granted its River Ouse drought order on 3 December. The company implemented a temporary use ban (TUB) for customers in Kent and Sussex areas from 18 July 2025 and removed exemptions from this ban on 17 October. They applied for a non-essential use drought order to restrict some uses of water by businesses on 24 October. Examples of banned activities include watering outdoor plants on commercial premises, cleaning windows, and filling swimming pools and ponds. South East Water states that it will only implement this if the drought worsens. The company is also reviewing and implementing additional options to bring water into the zone if there is a dry winter. More detail is available on South East Water website.

4.8 South Staffordshire Water

South Staffordshire Water has moved from drought level 1 into business as usual. Blithfield reservoir is at 80.4%, seeing an increase of 5.3% in the past week.  

4.9 Thames Water

Thames Water remains in business as usual in its Swindon and Oxfordshire supply area (SWOX) and removed its TUB on 27 November. Thames Water’s London and other zones remain at drought level 1.

4.10 Veolia Water

Veolia Water Projects Limited remains at drought level 1.

4.11 Wessex Water

Wessex Water remains in drought level 1a. Reservoirs are at normal; groundwater has improved but remains in drought level 1a. 

4.12 Yorkshire Water

Yorkshire Water remains at drought level 3 according to its drought plan due to drought measures in place. Supply reservoir storage has increased this week by 3.1% to 87.7%. The company implemented a TUB on 11 July. We have now granted 44 drought permits to Yorkshire Water, and Defra granted 1 drought order. More detail is available on the Yorkshire Water website.

5. Agriculture

Despite the autumn rainfall the agriculture sector continues to plan for a dry winter and taking actions to mitigate the impacts from drought continuing through to next spring. 

Recent rainfall has improved conditions for establishment of crops and refilling irrigation reservoirs. The winter storage reservoirs refill season started on 1 November. As of the 4 December, 184 hands off flow restrictions are in force on abstraction licences.

Some rivers in parts of East Anglia on the Burn and Cam remain below average for the time of year. This may impact the ability of some abstractors to refill irrigation reservoirs where hands of flows conditions are in force. Where licence conditions allow, abstractors are advised to refill reservoirs as soon as possible to ensure greater resilience for next year irrigation season, especially if there is below average rainfall this winter.   

Livestock farmers continue to face a growing shortage of forage due to poor grass growth this year. Consequently, farmers are buying additional food or selling animals to reduce pressure on winter feed supplies. Dry weather emergency grants are available to help the most in need livestock farmers struggling with forage and feed supplies ahead of this coming winter.   

Uncertainty around water resilience remains in the sector especially if the winter period is dry and farm irrigation reservoirs are not refilled, which will likely impact on the next year’s planting of crops. We continue to support abstractors this year with flexible abstraction requests and opportunities to improve long-term water resources resilience. 

We continue to proactively update our dry weather communications for the agriculture sector. The  Environment Agency dry weather farming blog is available to help farmers prepare for the winter and details support available to farmers to help improve access to water, following the dry conditions this year.

Our full drought prospect report details the impacts from a dry autumn and winter and the actions water companies, agriculture and environment sectors will need to take to mitigate these risks ahead of spring 2026. An agriculture prospect report is now available on the Farming Advice Service website. 

6. Energy

There are no known issues with the energy sector.

7. Environment

The number of incidents caused by drought and dry weather in 2025 were at 302 as of 19 November. The number of new drought and dry weather incidents has significantly reduced with the cooler wetter weather.

8. Navigation

The Canal & River Trust network is seeing a continuing improvement in the overall situation for navigation. Canals that were closed for drought purposes over the summer have now reopened. There has been recovery of canal supply reservoirs groups and only a minority or reservoirs show a poor response to the autumn rainfall. Some canal supply reservoirs remain low as engineering work is taking place, and this requires reservoirs to maintained at less than full capacity. The Trust continues to monitor the situation over the winter. 

9. Weather forecast

Bright and breezy conditions are expected at the start of the weekend, before wind and rain sweep in from the south-west. Blustery showers on Saturday, with further rain on Sunday. This unsettled, wet weather is expected to continue for the next 2 weeks, with showers and longer spells of rain for many.  

10. Drought readiness actions

In response to the drought and dry weather, the Environment Agency continues to act by:

• operating our Gold command structure for our national incident response
• planning for potential continuation of dry weather into winter and spring using the latest drought prospects information from water companies and other sectors
• co-ordinating closely with water companies to implement actions in statutory drought plans, taking necessary action to safeguard public water supplies
• activating drought plans for those Environment Agency areas in drought and PDW status
• enhancing abstraction licence compliance checks and issuing hands off flow or level restrictions and warnings to some abstractors in areas experiencing low flows
• monitoring, preparing and responding to incidents caused by low river flows, particularly in those Environment Agency areas in drought status
• oroviding dry weather advice to fishery operators to help protect their waters
• hosting regular national drought meetings

The next National Drought Group meeting is scheduled for 8 December.

11. Contact us  

Contact drought.national@environment-agency.gov.uk if you have questions about this report.

The next briefing is due on 18 December as we are moving to fortnightly reporting.