Research and analysis

Dry weather and drought in England: 7 to 13 November 2025

Updated 14 November 2025

Applies to England

1. Summary

We have published the Drought Prospects for Spring 2026 report. The report warns that unless we have sustained rainfall this winter, England could face widespread drought in 2026. All sectors, including water, agriculture, energy, and environmental sectors need to act now to ensure we are ready for continued drought. Please share the report within your organisation and across your networks. 

The week to 11 November was wet across England, with east England remaining driest and the south-west being wettest. Unsettled, wet weather is forecast to remain into the weekend, with particularly wet weather on Friday. River flows have increased at the majority of reported sites, and almost all are now classed as normal or higher for the time of year. All below normal or lower sites are in eastern areas of England.

As dry soils in catchments are replenished with autumn rainfall, we have seen most public water supply reservoirs increase their storage levels, particularly those which benefit from direct inflows. Total reservoir stocks across England for the period ending 11 November were 69.9%, an increase of 4.1% from the previous week. The average for this time of year is 78.5% for England.

Over the past week Ardingly Reservoir, in Sussex that is supplied by South East Water, has increased to 33.9% full, however this is still very low. The company applied for a non-essential use ban (NEUB) on 24 October to restrict use by some businesses. Temporary use bans (TUBs) remain in place for customers supplied by Yorkshire Water, parts of South East Water and parts of Thames Water. 

There are currently 353 hands off flow restrictions in force on abstraction licences (down 26 from 379 last week), where river flows remain low. The winter refill season has now started and some river flows across eastern parts of the country are below average or exceptionally low for the time of year. This will impact on the ability for some abstractors to refill irrigation reservoirs, where hands of flows conditions are in force.

There has been no change this week in the number of incidents caused by drought and dry weather, nor has there been any change to navigation restrictions on rivers and canals.

2. Area drought status

There has been no change in 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 recovery

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

2.4 How the stages of drought response work

Each area is reviewing its status depending on the triggers they have outlined in their drought plan.

More detail of how we manage drought, including our 4 stages of drought response, is available in Drought: how it is managed in England.

3. Current water situation

It has been another wet week for all of England up 11 November, with the south-west receiving the highest totals of 41mm. East England was driest with 16mm of rainfall. For November so far, all parts of England have seen more than a third of the long term average rainfall expected for the month. The north-west has been particularly wet and has already received 62% of LTA rainfall. England as a whole has received just under half of the LTA rainfall for November (47%).

With ongoing wet weather for most of the country, soil moisture deficits (SMD) have continued to decrease in all areas. In north-west, north-east and south-west England SMD are now around or above average for the time of year. In central and south-east England SMD are slightly below average, while in east England SMD remains much higher than average meaning soils are still drier than would be expected.

River flows increased at three-quarters of reported sites after another wet week. The majority of sites are now classed as normal or higher for the time of year. Five sites were classed as below normal, all of which are in east, south-east and north-east England. The River Yare and Ely Ouse in east England were both classed as exceptionally low for the time of year.

Reservoir storage rose 4.1% in the week to 11 November, with stocks across England at 69.9% (LTA is 78.5%) full at the end of the week. Reservoir storage rose in three-quarters of reported reservoirs, with a handful seeing decreases in storage. Eleven reservoirs are still less than 50% full, including Blagdon and Wimbleball in south-west England which are less than 30% full. Ardingly in Sussex rose by 2.1% and was 33.9% full.

Groundwater levels continue to recede at the majority of sites across England, as would be expected at this time of year. Most sites in chalk aquifers from Yorkshire to the Wessex and South Downs are below normal or lower for the time of year. Sites in limestone aquifers in east and south-east England are also below normal or lower.

More details are available in our water situation reports for England.

4. Public water supply

Most water companies continue to follow their drought plans. Several water companies have seen their water resource situation improve following recent rainfall. Further significant rainfall is needed to return to normal conditions across many water companies. Concern for many water companies is now on the recovery of water resources over the autumn and winter if conditions are dry.

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

4.1 Yorkshire Water

Yorkshire Water remains in drought level 3. Reservoir storage has increased this week. Supply reservoirs total storage has increased by 4.64% since last week, to 65.3%. The company implemented a TUB on 11 July. We have now granted 44 drought permits to Yorkshire Water, and Defra granted one drought order.

For more details check the Yorkshire Water website.

4.2 South East Water

South East Water remains in drought level 2 in its resource zones 2 and 3, with storage in Ardingly reservoir increasing over the last week. As of 8 November, the reservoir is at 33.9% total capacity. SEW was granted its Ardingly winter drought permit on 22 September and applied for its River Ouse drought order to Defra on 10 October. South East Water implemented a TUB for customers in Kent and Sussex areas from the 18 July 2025 and removed exemptions from this ban on 17 October. The company 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. The company states that it will only implement this if the drought worsens. South East Water is also reviewing and implementing additional options to bring water into the zone. For more details check the drought orders for South East Water.

4.3 Southern Water

Southern Water remains at drought level 2 in its Isle of Wight supply area and Southampton West remains in drought level 1. Southern Water removed the TUB in effect in its Hampshire and Isle of Wight areas on 31 October.

4.4 Thames Water

Thames Water remains at drought level 2 in its Swindon and Oxfordshire supply area (SWOX) and drought level 1 in its London zone. The company implemented a TUB for its SWOX customers on 22 July.

4.5 South Staffordshire Water

South Staffordshire Water has moved from drought level 2 into drought level 1. Blithfield reservoir storage has increased by 5.9% to 54.4% since last week.

4.6 Bristol Water

Bristol Water has moved from drought level 2 into drought level 1. Reservoir storage has slightly increased since last week.

4.7 Wessex Water

Wessex Water remains at drought level 1b. There is no significant change to its water resource position from last week.

4.8 Severn Trent Water

Severn Trent Water is in drought level 1 in its Strategic Grid North zone. The company applied for its Ambergate drought permit (Derbyshire River Derwent) on 22 October, this was granted on 3 November.

4.9 Northumbrian Water

Northumbrian Water remains at drought level 1. There is no significant change to its water resource position from last week.

4.10 Anglian Water

Anglian Water remains at drought level 1 in the following supply areas: Fenland, Lincolnshire Central, Norfolk Norwich and the Broads, Ruthamford Central, North, South, and West and Essex South. Reservoir levels continue to steadily decline.

4.11 Cambridge Water

Cambridge Water remains at drought level 1. There is no significant change to its water resource position from last week.

4.12 Essex and Suffolk Water

Essex and Suffolk Water remains at drought level 1 in its Essex and Northern Central supply areas. No significant change to water resource position from last week.

4.13 SES Water

SES Water remains in drought level 1. Reservoir storage has slightly decreased since last week.

4.14 United Utilities

United Utilities has moved out of Enhanced Monitoring and Operations and into business as usual in its Strategic Grid supply area and remains in business as usual in its Carlisle resource zone. Haweswater storage has increased by 10.7% since the previous week to 69.5%. The company’s Pennine reservoirs storage has increased by 3.1% since last week with storage at 72.1%.

5. Agriculture

Despite the rainfall in the first part of November, drought conditions remain in parts of the country. 

There are currently 353 hands off flow restrictions in force on abstraction licences (down 26 from 379 last week), where river flows remain low. The winter refill season has now started and some river flows across eastern parts of the country are below average or exceptionally low for the time of year. This will impact on the ability for some abstractors to refill irrigation reservoirs, where hands of flows conditions are in force. There have been concerns from Water Abstractor Groups in some areas regarding the current restrictions on abstraction licences used to refill winter farm reservoirs. Where licence conditions allow, abstractors are advised to refill irrigation reservoirs as soon as possible to ensure greater resilience for next year irrigation season.

With the 2025 cereals harvest now completed, attention turns to establishing next year’s crops. Recent rainfall has improved conditions for establishment of crops, but soil moisture deficits are still very high in East England and will hamper germination and establishment. Concerns remain heading into the winter on feed availability for livestock due to poor grass growth this summer and low-quality and low-quantity hay and straw, due to this year’s dry conditions.

The agriculture sector has been advised to plan for a dry winter and take actions to mitigate the impacts from drought continue into next spring. We will be issuing a winter irrigation prospects report shortly, similar to the spring irrigation prospects report, to help farmers understand their refill potential and advice help to improve water resilience.

We continue to engage and support the agriculture sector into the autumn and winter season. We have received 30 flexible abstraction requests to date. These help abstractors manage with exceptionally dry weather.

We continue to proactively update our drought weather communications, detailing the current drought situation, support available to help farmers improve access to water and preparation for this winter. Our Environment Agency dry weather farming blog and Water Hub webpage contain further information.

6. Energy

There are no known issues with the energy sector.

7. Environment

The numbers of incidents caused by drought and dry weather has not changed from last week. Total numbers for 2025 remain at 291 for drought and dry weather incidents.

The 2 Environment Agency drought orders to protect the environment, both at Holme Styes reservoir, Holmfirth, Yorkshire (granted 28 July and 3 September) remain in place but are not in use due to the reservoir being full.

8. Navigation

The gradually improving water resources situation for the Canal & River Trust network has seen further canals reopened recently, with key lock flights on the Oxford and Grand Union Canals now available for cruising, although with restricted opening hours to continue to conserve water resources where possible.

Many of the Trust’s reservoirs have failed to show appreciable refill in recent weeks, and so unfortunately some canal closures are still in place across parts of the Trust’s 2,000 mile network, although this is a much-improved picture overall compared with the summer situation. The Trust continues to monitor the situation and will reopen further canals as water levels improve. The latest closures and restrictions are listed on the Canal & River Trust website.

9. Weather forecast

Unsettled, wet and windy weather is forecast for Friday 14 November, with weather warnings out for much of the country, as bands of rain move across England. These conditions are expected to continue early on Saturday, before they begin to ease later in the weekend, bringing brighter colder weather moving south. Monday is expected to start with bright and cold conditions for many, although there is a chance of showers along eastern coasts.

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

• coordinating closely with water companies to implement 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

• preparing 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.