Rosie Shead

The Met Office forecasts the UK’s first meaningful rainfall in a long period for some areas this week, including heavy and thundery showers in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and Wales. Forecaster Aidan McGivern warns that the rainfall will be uneven and insufficient to end the drought, with drier conditions expected by the weekend. More than 27 million people in England face hosepipe restrictions, while Wessex Water has introduced a ban and Thames Water reports low reservoir storage despite reduced customer demand.