What is a Drought:
In the United Kingdom an absolute drought is currently defined “as a period of at least 15 consecutive days when there is less than 0.2 mm (0.008 inches) of rainfall“, although before the 1990s a drought was defined as “15 consecutive days with less than 0.25 mm (0.01 inches) of rain on any one day”.
What caused the Drought? :
The exceptionally dry period started in May of 1975, which was then followed by a very warm summer (remember them).
The winter at the start of 1976 saw only about half of the average rainfall, with some months having no rain at all. All these events were to have an impact on the severity of the Drought in 1976. It was the driest period since records began in 1772.
June of 1976 saw the jet stream, which has a controlling effect of the weather, sitting above Iceland. This meant that the warm weather around the equator was drawn up through Northen Africa, through Spain and France and up into the UK.
(Ed note: If the jet stream sits below the UK then we draw in all the cold weather from the Northen regions.)
June the 23rd 1976 saw the start of one of the worst droughts to ever hit the country. The drought lasted nine weeks in total, from June 23rd to August 26th, the driest period for over 250 years. It was then followed by flooding in September and October.
Here are a list of stat’s from the time:
* From 22nd June to 16th July 1976, somewhere in the UK exceeded 25°C (77°F ) every day.
* At Heathrow there was a total of 15 day’s when the temperature did not fall below 30° C (86° F).
* The highest temperature in June was recorded at Southhampton where it reached a high of36.6° C (97.88°F), until then the
UK had never recorded temperatures above 32.2°C (90°F) in its history.
* No previous, or subsequent heatwaves has produced more than 5 day’s in a row with temperatures of over 32° C (89.6F).
* The average rainfall was running at 64% for the period.
(Ed note: I seem to remember any rainfall that did fall, fell during the night.)
The effect of the drought in the UK:
The heat wave caused major problems throughout the UK.
In the North of England rivers run dry and a hose pipe ban was put in place for the first time in the country.
The Welsh National Water Development Authority announced that 400,000 people would have their water cut off at night. They also ordered that there would be a stop to people washing their cars and watering their gardens. Businesses were also effects, with Golf Courses, Bowling Greens and Tennis Courts also having their water stopped. Due to the water shortages the farmers saw their crops destroyed in the field and it was estimated that £500 million worth of crops were destroyed due to lack of water and the high temperatures. This in turn led to an increase in the price of food in the shops and certain foodstuff’s becoming either short or unavailable. In East Anglia the topsoil turned to dust and was blown away by the wind. Throughout the country especially along the coastal areas, swarms of Ladybirds and Aphids appeared creating a nuisance to the public.
Reservoirs up and down the country started to run dry with the Reservoirs around Brecon being badly effected.
(Ed note: I remember driving up to the reservoir by Story Arms to see for myself, and the water levels were really low, see picture below.)
Due to the water shortages the farmers saw their crops destroyed in the field and it was estimated that £500 million worth of crops were destroyed due to lack of water and the high temperatures. This in turn led to an increase in the price of food in the shops and certain foodstuff’s becoming either short or unavailable.
In East Anglia the topsoil turned to dust and was blown away by the wind.
Throughout the country especially along the coastal areas, swarms of Ladybirds and Aphids appeared creating a nuisance to the public.
The shortage of water was also a problem to the fire fighters were were fighting fires up and down the country due to the dry conditions, with Somerset being particularly badly effected.
Many ideas to save water were put forward, a much lampooned slogan of the time was “Save Water, Bath with a friend”, come on admit it, did you? One idea to save water was to put half a brick in your toilet cistern to reduce water with every flush.
On August the 6th the government introduced a Drought Act which gave them powers to call for a hosepipe ban and the Act also introduced Emergency Powers to stop water supplies to domestic and business premises, if necessary.
On the 5th of August under this new act, taps in South Wales were turned off between the hours of 7pm and 8am in the morning. (Ed note: I remember we filled buckets of water during the day and kept them in the bath, in case they were needed during the night to flush the toilet, which perhaps defeated the need to save water.)
At the end of August the government of the day appointed Dennis Howell as Minister for Drought. Typically for the UK, three day’s later it started raining which in turn led to flooding, so he then picked up the nickname the Minister of Floods.
Eventually the rains came, but fell on hard dry land, and the rain had nowhere to go, which led to much flooding over the country. Rain was to continue in September and October and in time the rivers were able to absorb the water and flow freely.
Local memories of this time:
I remember travelling back and fore to Cam Gears, and day after day, after day the sun shone, it didn’t seem to end. You didn’t have to think of what to wear to work, you just needed a T-shirt. The lawns stopped growing and turned brown, leaves from the trees started to fall and there were many grass fires throughout the country.
Some of the locals residents of the village remember the great weather they had on their holiday’s.
* Gareth Pritchard remembers it well, he went on holiday to Ostend with a few of the Dun boy’s.
* Sandi Mitchell remembers, “I lived in a caravan on Hayling Island. It was really hot. We had to carry water quite a long way just for drinking as the caravan didn’t have mains water or sewage”.
* Rhodri Evans remembers the fantastic weather when he attended the Rolling Stones concert at Knebworth, as it happens I was there along with some friends as well.
We had the shop in the lamb. The fridges blew, and lots of pop exploded in the heat. Ian had to sleep in the shop on a camp bed so that we could keep the doors open at night.
Marion Morgan
Conclusion:
The start of the drought can be traced back to the dry May of 1975, closely followed by a very warm summer, and a winter of little or no rain. These were ideal conditions for the drought to flourish. The exceptionally sunny period from the end of June until the end of August 1976 was made worst by the weather over the previous 12 months.
The drought of 1976 has been used as a “Benchmark” for all other subsequent heatwaves, heatwaves in 1983, 2006, 2010 and 2012 and now 2022 have all been compared against this exceptional Drought. The heatwave in 2022 looks like it will break the highest temperature record with temperature set to rise to 40°C (104°F), it is the first time that a Red warning has been issued in the UK.
Update:
On the 18th July 2022 the highest temperature reached in Wales (Hawarden) was …………… 37.1°C (99°F)
On the 19th July 2022 the highest temperature reached in Scotland (Cowingham) was ……. 34.8°C (94.6°F)
On the 19th July 2022 the highest temperature reached in England (Coningsby)was ………… 40.3°C (104.5°F)
Back in 1976 the thought of Climate Change having an effect on the weather was not even mentioned or considered, see further update below.
Further Update:
As I update this article today it is now July 2026 and we have had the 3rd heatwave of the year so far. It is predicted that
there will be a Super El Niño this year, see comment below. .
El Niño conditions form when warmer waters spread across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, resulting in global changes to weather and climate. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said that there is an 80% chance that El Niño conditions will emerge between June and August 2026
Also, climate researchers in 2026 revealed that the Gulf Stream and broader AMOC are weakening faster than previously projected. Empirical evidence indicates the current is already shifting northward, which could drastically alter the UK’s climate, potentially dropping British winter temperatures by up to 15°C.
References and Resources:
Various online newspaper articles.
Photo by Walesonline.