A quaint village in Surrey, most famous for its 240-acre garden owned by the Royal Horticultural Society, has now gone a record-breaking 50 consecutive days without rain this summer.
Wisley previously saw 36 continuous dry days back in the notorious 1976 heatwave — but this record now stands to be beaten by more than 14 days.
The unprecedented dry spell comes as the country has been hit by successive heatwaves and is now being confirmed as the driest July for England and Wales since Met Office records began 190 years ago.
Met Office spokesperson, Andrea Bishop told The Independent that Wisley’s lack of rainfall highlights “the exceptional nature of this year’s dry spell.”
For those living in the area, the lack of rain has proven to be a challenge.
Mehreen Osman, 24, who lives about 20 minutes outside of Wisley told The Independent: “These heatwaves have just been so horrible.
“Summer is supposed to be when we really get to enjoy being outside. But it’s been so hot and dry that going out honestly feels like a nightmare.”
More than half of England is experiencing drought, where up to 28 million people in the country have been affected, according to the Environment Agency.
For people living in Surrey, the drought conditions resulted in a significant water outage earlier last month, where residents where unable to “do the washing up or take a shower,” according to local MP, Chris Coghlan.
The MP stressed the impacts of drought on vulnerable communities in Surrey, “But where it was more problematic was for the older residents living around us. A lot of them didn’t have access to water.”
While this week has bought cooler conditions that are closer to previous average temperatures in August, forecasts indicate a further heatwave as soon as next week.
UKHSA yellow heat health alerts have been issued for the East Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and The Humber.
The alerts are set to be in place from Saturday morning until Tuesday 11 August, where highs are set to reach 32C, according to Met Office forecasts.
While showers have hit parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, and north western England this week, any rain that has fallen has been in the form of well scattered showers meaning areas like Wisley have completely missed out.
Despite forecasts predicting more variable temperature drops over the next few weeks, dry conditions are expected continue for most regions across the country.
As these conditions continue to bring threats of food shortages, price spikes, and water disruption, increasing pressure has been put on Andy Burnham’s government to address the climate emergency.
In a speech on Wednesday, Green Party leader, Zack Polanski called on the prime minister to take further action against the “apocalyptic” effects of extreme weather.
To not do so would be an “astonishing dereliction of duty,” Polanski said.
England has already faced two record-breaking heatwaves that led to more than 2,800 excess deaths in May and June.
