postcodealert

Updated 10 November 2026, 23:31 UTC

NormalElevatedSevere

Water supply risks

Restriction riskHigh

Most serious statusSevere droughtreport of 2026-11-05

4 of 4 steps apply somewhere in England. A lit box shows where. Report of 2026-11-05.

STEP 1 OF 4ACTIVE

Prolonged dry weather

Drier than normal. No restrictions. The Environment Agency and water companies are watching levels.

3 areas: Cumbria and Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, North East

STEP 2 OF 4ACTIVE

Drought declared

Water is short in the area. No restrictions by itself, but hosepipe bans often follow. Use water carefully.

7 areas: East Anglia (parts), East Midlands (parts), Hertfordshire and North London (parts), Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire (parts), Thames (parts), West Midlands (parts), Yorkshire (parts)

STEP 3 OF 4ACTIVE

Temporary Use Ban (hosepipe ban)

Hosepipes and sprinklers are banned. Applies to households the company supplies. Check your supplier's website.

10 companies: Affinity Water (part), Anglian Water, Bristol Water, Cambridge Water, Essex and Suffolk Water, South East Water, South West Water, Southern Water (part), Thames Water, Wessex Water

STEP 4 OF 4ACTIVE

Severe drought declared

A serious shortage. Wider restrictions on businesses and on supply are possible.

4 areas: Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (parts), Kent and South London (parts), Solent and South Downs (parts), Wessex (parts)

PostcodeAlert

Reservoirs and drought status

Layers

Reservoirs, by how full

Bubble size: capacity. Dashed edge: a group of reservoirs.

Ring those that could run low

likely in a dry spell

Groundwater boreholes

Background

Drought status Rain, last 30 days Rain forecast, 14 days None

Map display

County boundaries Postcode areas (approx.) City labels

Boundaries: Office for National Statistics, OGL v3. Postcode areas are approximate.

Reservoirs that could run low in the next 12 weeks

Reservoir	Company	Now	In 4 weeks	In 8 weeks	In 12 weeks	Below 30 percent	Record
Redmires Middle Ire	Yorkshire Water	6%	17% (2 to 63)	42% (18 to 58)	59% (36 to 97)	below now; likely back above by 4 Jan	4 years (indicative)
Leigh	Wessex Water	23%	49% (18 to 63)	69% (34 to 88)	79% (35 to 97)	below now; likely back above by 23 Nov	5 years (indicative)
Redmires Upper Ire	Yorkshire Water	26%	52% (25 to 83)	56% (32 to 98)	66% (42 to 98)	below now; likely back above by 16 Nov	4 years (indicative)
Barden Lower Ire	Yorkshire Water	22%	42% (20 to 51)	53% (48 to 66)	65% (48 to 74)	below now; likely back above by 30 Nov	4 years (indicative)
Luxhay	Wessex Water	26%	71% (64 to 87)	86% (82 to 97)	95% (76 to 97)	below now; likely back above by 16 Nov	5 years (indicative)
Scargill Ire	Yorkshire Water	19%	57% (35 to 78)	72% (47 to 84)	79% (60 to 88)	below now; likely back above by 23 Nov	4 years (indicative)
Darwell	Southern Water	30%	42% (34 to 61)	60% (51 to 86)	86% (59 to 90)	below now; likely back above by 16 Nov	10 years
Strines Ire	Yorkshire Water	29%	57% (43 to 86)	71% (54 to 99)	–	below now; likely back above by 16 Nov	4 years (indicative)
Clatworthy	Wessex Water	28%	73% (63 to 90)	88% (80 to 98)	92% (87 to 99)	below now; likely back above by 16 Nov	5 years (indicative)

How to read thisEach figure is the likely level, with the range from a dry spell to a wet one in brackets. A reservoir is listed when the dry end of that range falls below 30% within 12 weeks. Below that, companies are usually well into their drought plans.

How reliable is it?The projection replays how each reservoir behaved from this date in earlier years; it uses no rain forecast. On the long records it was tested on, the likely figure had about half the error of assuming no change, and it leans cautious. Records under 10 years are marked indicative: they have not been tested.

Rain and temperature: last 30 days and the next two weeks

No freeze-then-thaw and no heatwave in the 16-day forecast. These are the two weather patterns that most often cut supply at short notice.

Area	Rain last 30 days	Rain forecast next 14 days	Coldest night ahead	Hottest day ahead	Freeze then thaw	Heatwave
Cumbria and Lancashire	55% of normal	188% of normal	-4°C	12°C	–	–
Devon Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly	132% of normal	245% of normal	-3°C	14°C	–	–
East Anglia	113% of normal	80% of normal	-1°C	14°C	–	–
East Midlands	81% of normal	76% of normal	1°C	14°C	–	–
Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire	84% of normal	89% of normal	1°C	12°C	–	–
Hertfordshire and North London	136% of normal	100% of normal	-0°C	15°C	–	–
Kent South London and East Sussex	135% of normal	132% of normal	-2°C	14°C	–	–
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire	102% of normal	65% of normal	-0°C	14°C	–	–
North East	86% of normal	57% of normal	-2°C	11°C	–	–
Scotland	141% of normal	129% of normal	-2°C	9°C	–	–
Solent and South Downs	164% of normal	178% of normal	-3°C	14°C	–	–
Thames	140% of normal	119% of normal	-3°C	14°C	–	–
Wales	141% of normal	184% of normal	-3°C	12°C	–	–
Wessex	151% of normal	116% of normal	-2°C	13°C	–	–
West Midlands	106% of normal	129% of normal	1°C	13°C	–	–
Yorkshire	79% of normal	83% of normal	0°C	11°C	–	–

How to read thisUnder 100% means drier than usual for the time of year. Reservoirs need a run of wet weeks to refill, and rain on dry ground soaks in before it reaches them, so one wet fortnight rarely changes the picture.

How reliable is it?Rain forecasts are useful for about a week and roughly right to two; nothing here looks further. Each area is read at one point, so treat it as a broad indication. The two temperature triggers are rules of thumb, not tested.

National detailWater supplyRain and temperature outlook

Water supply

RED · Severeas of 2026-11-10 07:40 UTC (15 h 51 min ago)

England reservoir storage

60.1 % full

Gap to long-term average

-17.0 points

Reservoirs or groups below 50%

Areas in severe drought

4 of 14

Areas in drought

7 of 14

Companies with hosepipe bans

Boreholes exceptionally low

Drought stage and bans from the Environment Agency report dated 2026-11-05. Rows marked public = no are built on water company web pages and stay internal.

England reservoir storage percent

Environment agency areas

Area	Stage	Scope
Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly	severe drought	parts
Kent and South London	severe drought	parts
Solent and South Downs	severe drought	parts
Wessex	severe drought	parts
East Anglia	drought	parts
East Midlands	drought	parts
Hertfordshire and North London	drought	parts
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire	drought	parts
Thames	drought	parts
West Midlands	drought	parts
Yorkshire	drought	parts
North East	prolonged dry weather	–
Cumbria and Lancashire	recovering drought	–
Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire	recovering drought	–

Hosepipe bans

Company	Scope
Affinity Water	central and east regions, covering Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, and parts of London and Essex
Anglian Water	whole company area, excluding Hartlepool
Bristol Water	whole company area
Cambridge Water	whole company area
Essex and Suffolk Water	whole company area
South East Water	whole company area
South West Water	whole company area, excluding Bournemouth
Southern Water	Hampshire and the Isle of Wight
Thames Water	whole company area
Wessex Water	whole company area

Lowest reservoirs

Reservoir	Operator	Percent full	Change 4 weeks	Observed	Public
Wimbleball	South West Water	18.0	–	2026-11-08	no
Tottiford	South West Water	18.0	–	2026-11-08	no
Cropston	Severn Trent Water	18.4	-0.9	2026-11-09	no
Ardingly	South East Water	19.0	–	2026-11-08	no
Wimbleball	Environment Agency map	21.0	-13.0	2026-09-30	yes
Barden Lower Ire	Yorkshire Water	21.5	-8.3	2026-11-02	yes
Charnwood	Severn Trent Water	21.5	0.8	2026-11-09	no
Stithians	South West Water	22.0	–	2026-11-08	no
Ardingly	Environment Agency map	25.0	-13.0	2026-09-30	yes
Swithland	Severn Trent Water	25.0	2.7	2026-11-09	no

Groundwater low

Borehole	Band	Last month	Aquifer
Chipstead Gwl	exceptionally low	below normal	Epsom North Downs Chalk
Tilshead	exceptionally low	exceptionally low	Upper Hampshire Avon Chalk
Chilgrove	notably low	notably low	Chichester-Worthing- Portsdown Chalk
Jackaments Bottom	notably low	exceptionally low	Burford Oolitic Limestone (Inferior)
Wetwang	notably low	below normal	Hull and East Riding Chalk
Woodyates	notably low	below normal	Dorset Stour Chalk

Source: Environment Agency water situation and drought reports · OGL v3; Stream water industry open data · CC BY 4.0; London Datastore · OGL; Water company web pages

Rain and temperature outlook

GREEN · Normalas of 2026-11-10 23:00 UTC (31 min ago)

Rain, last 30 days (median area)

132 % of normal

Rain forecast, next 14 days (median area)

119 % of normal

Areas under 60% of normal, last 30 days

1 of 16

Areas with a freeze then thaw forecast

0 of 16

Areas with a heatwave forecast

0 of 16

One point per area, so a broad indication. Normal is the 1991 to 2020 average for the same days of the year. Freeze then thaw: 2 days with nights at -4°C or below and days no warmer than 2°C, then 7°C or above within 3 days. Heatwave: 3 days in a row at 27°C or above. Both triggers are judgements, not backtested.

By area

Area	Rain last 30 days mm	Percent of normal	Rain next 14 days mm	Forecast percent of normal	Freeze then thaw	Heatwave
Cumbria and Lancashire	70.4	55	113.2	188	–	–
Devon Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly	134.2	132	116.8	245	–	–
East Anglia	64.3	113	20.9	80	–	–
East Midlands	48.0	81	21.1	76	–	–
Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire	74.9	84	37.6	89	–	–
Hertfordshire and North London	82.0	136	29.8	100	–	–
Kent South London and East Sussex	85.9	135	40.6	132	–	–
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire	59.1	102	17.2	65	–	–
North East	51.8	86	17.2	57	–	–
Scotland	145.9	141	58.9	129	–	–
Solent and South Downs	124.0	164	65.3	178	–	–
Thames	88.8	140	36.9	119	–	–
Wales	160.7	141	96.8	184	–	–
Wessex	116.6	151	43.5	116	–	–
West Midlands	69.5	106	39.1	129	–	–
Yorkshire	46.1	79	22.9	83	–	–

Source: Weather data by Open-Meteo.com · CC BY 4.0