Floods and storms – but summer’s drier than ’76

AFTER the torrential rain that battered much of Scotland last week it may come as a surprise.

But Scotland is ending summer drier even than the drought of 1976, leaving some areas desperately short of water.

The Met Office says Scotland has experienced only 54 per cent of average summer rainfall, with the west of the country even drier at just 46 per cent.

That makes it the seconddriest summer ever recorded, the driest being in 1955.

Warnings for drought conditions are in place for many areas, including the far north where a ‘significant’ scarcity of water has been flagged up by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

Farmers in the south-west of the country say they have just endured the driest July in more than 100 years. Despite the downpours last week, rain has not always fallen on places which need it most.

Becky Mitchell of the Met Office said: ‘It’s been pretty dry so far for Scotland this summer. If you don’t get a lot of rain in the next two weeks, it will certainly become one of the top ten driest summers ever.’

She said high pressure sitting out in the North Sea should protect the east of Scotland from any rain in the next two weeks.

Many parts of central and northern Scotland have been placed on an early warning for water scarcity by Sepa, while most of the south is now one step higher on the warning scale, at ‘alert’.

Scottish Water has made repeated requests to customers to limit their use of water this summer.