Yorkshire is declared a drought zone after its fifth driest spring and summer on record

From the Newshound archive · first published 9 October 2026 · last updated 10 October 2026.

Yorkshire officially entered drought status on Friday after the Environment Agency ruled that rivers and groundwater levels had fallen to crisis lows following the fifth driest April-to-September period on record. Yorkshire Water insisted it is not planning water restrictions for customers, but urged residents to take shorter showers and run full washing machine loads. Water Minister Emma Hardy warned the recent rainfall is "not yet enough" to replenish supplies depleted across a summer of record heat and back-to-back heatwaves.

Yorkshire joins all of central, southern and eastern England in drought status, with the North East and North West still in 'prolonged dry weather'.

Environment Agency manager Vicki Townend warned: 'Even if we receive a few weeks of rain, we cannot quickly reverse the effects.'

Research reportedly found it would take 120 per cent of average rainfall for the next seven months to end drought conditions across England.