Water in Southern England (climate district)
Met Office climate district covering southern England. The driest part of the UK, and the region where water resources are most constrained.
Headline indicators
Where this number comes from
Source: Met Office — HadUK-Grid gridded climate observations, HadUK-Grid areal series, Rainfall, England S, annual. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Met Office published area-average total precipitation, from the HadUK-Grid 1 km gridded analysis of the national rain gauge network. Gauge density is far lower in the nineteenth century than today, and mountain precipitation is systematically under-measured, so early values carry greater uncertainty than recent ones.
Retrieved 1 October 2026.
Rainfall
What the shaded periods are (4 events)
A shaded period marks when something was recorded, not what caused the shape of the line. Where the two coincide, they coincided.
| Event | Type | Period | Standing | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The 1976 drought | Drought declaration | 1975-05-01 – 1976-08-31 | Documented record | Compiled record |
| Yorkshire drought | Drought declaration | 1995-04-01 – 1996-03-31 | Documented record | Compiled record |
| The 2022 drought | Drought declaration | 2022-03-01 – 2022-10-31 | Documented record | Compiled record |
| European drought | Drought declaration | 2022-05-01 – 2022-10-31 | Documented record | Compiled record |
View the data behind this chart
| Period | Southern England (climate district) (mm) |
|---|---|
| 1836 | 823 |
| 1837 | 684 |
| 1838 | 703 |
| 1839 | 889 |
| 1840 | 609 |
| 1841 | 935 |
| 1842 | 720 |
| 1843 | 797 |
| 1844 | 641 |
| 1845 | 706 |
| 1846 | 763 |
| 1847 | 686 |
| 1848 | 958 |
| 1849 | 725 |
| 1850 | 652 |
| 1851 | 670 |
| 1852 | 1,035 |
| 1853 | 775 |
| 1854 | 551 |
| 1855 | 636 |
| 1856 | 723 |
| 1857 | 705 |
| 1858 | 606 |
| 1859 | 783 |
| 1860 | 934 |
| 1861 | 674 |
| 1862 | 775 |
| 1863 | 681 |
| 1864 | 546 |
| 1865 | 828 |
| 1866 | 871 |
| 1867 | 762 |
| 1868 | 769 |
| 1869 | 782 |
| 1870 | 574 |
| 1871 | 731 |
| 1872 | 1,064 |
| 1873 | 690 |
| 1874 | 685 |
| 1875 | 909 |
| 1876 | 899 |
| 1877 | 915 |
| 1878 | 839 |
| 1879 | 873 |
| 1880 | 861 |
| 1881 | 791 |
| 1882 | 965 |
| 1883 | 806 |
| 1884 | 640 |
| 1885 | 786 |
| 1886 | 848 |
| 1887 | 566 |
| 1888 | 754 |
| 1889 | 713 |
| 1890 | 658 |
| 1891 | 864 |
| 1892 | 671 |
| 1893 | 620 |
| 1894 | 831 |
| 1895 | 702 |
| 1896 | 682 |
| 1897 | 756 |
| 1898 | 618 |
| 1899 | 694 |
| 1900 | 791 |
| 1901 | 640 |
| 1902 | 644 |
| 1903 | 987 |
| 1904 | 685 |
| 1905 | 640 |
| 1906 | 749 |
| 1907 | 750 |
| 1908 | 656 |
| 1909 | 786 |
| 1910 | 874 |
| 1911 | 694 |
| 1912 | 962 |
| 1913 | 742 |
| 1914 | 836 |
| 1915 | 886 |
| 1916 | 880 |
| 1917 | 742 |
| 1918 | 790 |
| 1919 | 806 |
| 1920 | 771 |
| 1921 | 454 |
| 1922 | 797 |
| 1923 | 805 |
| 1924 | 951 |
| 1925 | 808 |
| 1926 | 747 |
| 1927 | 938 |
| 1928 | 817 |
| 1929 | 758 |
| 1930 | 860 |
| 1931 | 796 |
| 1932 | 776 |
| 1933 | 600 |
| 1934 | 687 |
| 1935 | 858 |
| 1936 | 819 |
| 1937 | 871 |
| 1938 | 692 |
| 1939 | 886 |
| 1940 | 771 |
| 1941 | 744 |
| 1942 | 712 |
| 1943 | 674 |
| 1944 | 712 |
| 1945 | 689 |
| 1946 | 912 |
| 1947 | 660 |
| 1948 | 800 |
| 1949 | 648 |
| 1950 | 845 |
| 1951 | 947 |
| 1952 | 777 |
| 1953 | 621 |
| 1954 | 881 |
| 1955 | 681 |
| 1956 | 702 |
| 1957 | 750 |
| 1958 | 905 |
| 1959 | 719 |
| 1960 | 1,045 |
| 1961 | 734 |
| 1962 | 668 |
| 1963 | 737 |
| 1964 | 603 |
| 1965 | 854 |
| 1966 | 888 |
| 1967 | 826 |
| 1968 | 849 |
| 1969 | 761 |
| 1970 | 788 |
| 1971 | 710 |
| 1972 | 736 |
| 1973 | 608 |
| 1974 | 896 |
| 1975 | 651 |
| 1976 | 672 |
| 1977 | 797 |
| 1978 | 739 |
| 1979 | 841 |
| 1980 | 791 |
| 1981 | 840 |
| 1982 | 834 |
| 1983 | 718 |
| 1984 | 790 |
| 1985 | 745 |
| 1986 | 837 |
| 1987 | 775 |
| 1988 | 762 |
| 1989 | 715 |
| 1990 | 671 |
| 1991 | 669 |
| 1992 | 830 |
| 1993 | 867 |
| 1994 | 864 |
| 1995 | 731 |
| 1996 | 633 |
| 1997 | 737 |
| 1998 | 899 |
| 1999 | 886 |
| 2000 | 1,038 |
| 2001 | 839 |
| 2002 | 948 |
| 2003 | 629 |
| 2004 | 801 |
| 2005 | 668 |
| 2006 | 765 |
| 2007 | 887 |
| 2008 | 885 |
| 2009 | 806 |
| 2010 | 673 |
| 2011 | 603 |
| 2012 | 1,046 |
| 2013 | 780 |
| 2014 | 959 |
| 2015 | 750 |
| 2016 | 747 |
| 2017 | 742 |
| 2018 | 752 |
| 2019 | 893 |
| 2020 | 913 |
| 2021 | 806 |
| 2022 | 710 |
| 2023 | 998 |
| 2024 | 993 |
| 2025 | 730 |
Use this data
Use this data
- Machine-readable JSON
/api/v1/observations/by-subject/uk-climate-england-s.json - How to cite this, and who you must credit
- How these figures were produced
- Compare with somewhere else
- Request this at a different scale, format or geography
Attribution and citation
Attribution you are required to give
These are conditions of the licences the underlying data is published under. They are obligations to the publishers, not to Hydrionis, and they apply to you directly whether or not you mention Hydrionis at all.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Met Office — Open Government Licence v3.0 (licence text)
Suggested citation for Hydrionis
Hydrionis (2026), Water data for Southern England (climate district), accessed 2026-10-05, hydrionis.com/regions/southern-england-climate-district/
Cite Hydrionis where you rely on the compilation, the normalisation, the eligibility judgements or a chart. Where you use an unmodified published value, the publisher’s attribution is the one that is required; crediting Hydrionis as well is welcome and is not something Hydrionis can require of you.