Dry April causes worry for growers

THIS month is on course to be one the driest

Aprils on record with the UK seeing just 18% of its average rainfall.

Traditional April showers have stayed away, putting the month in line for a place in the history books if the weather continues in this vein.

There has been an average of 12.8mm of rain across the UK up to April 22, much lower than the April average of 72.53mm, Met Office figures say.

A typical April in the UK would have had 70% of its rainfall by now, but it instead has just had 18%.

The driest April on record across the UK was in 1938 when 14.1mm of rain was recorded.

In more recent years, the driest Aprils have been in 2007 (26.6mm) and 2020 (29.1mm).

Grahame Madge, climate spokesman at the Met Office, told the PA news agency: “Really for the rest of the month there isn’t any signal for significant rainfall.”

He said there may be some rain in the middle part of next week, but added: “That’s not necessarily going to do anything to top up these figures and get us anywhere near average.”

Mr Madge said this cold, dry month will probably have been quite “challenging” for crop growers.

The National Farmers Union’s national water resources specialist, Paul Hammett, said that after a delayed start to spring planting for many farmers following very wet winter conditions, they have now turned to irrigating their crops following several weeks of dry weather.

He said irrigation prospects for crops such as fruit and vegetables remain good because water availability is high following winter rainfall.

But with mainly dry weather set for the next few weeks, the absence of rainfall needed by cereal and grass crops is beginning to cause concern.