Kent's prolonged dry spell could be set to continue this month raising further fears of an impending drought.

Despite weekend forecasts for tropical weather that would bring 29C temperatures and and rain for some areas - aside from a brief heavy shower on Sunday evening the country has continued to remain mostly dry.

And with other southern areas, including the Isle of Wight and Hampshire, now just days away from a temporary hosepipe ban coming into force, and the rest of England classified as being in a state of 'prolonged dry weather', eyes remain firmly fixed on future forecasts to see whether any significant rainfall can relieve the parched conditions and steer regions away from an official drought being declared.

While northern areas may start to see some rain in the coming weeks, long-range Met Office forecasts for August suggest rain for southern and eastern areas could still be very sporadic and far from guaranteed.

Predictions for Friday, August 5 until Sunday, August 14 forecast mainly settled weather with cloud and sunny spells and while northern and central areas may see some rain, the majority of the showers are likely to be confined to northwestern areas with temperatures in southern and eastern counties forecast to be 'warm or very warm'.

And things don't appear to look much wetter for the second half of August either. Met Office forecasts for the final two weeks - up to and including the bank holiday weekend - suggest the drier than average weather is only going to continue.

It reads: "For the south and southeast any precipitation is most likely in the form of showers or thunderstorms, although most areas are likely to be drier than average. Temperatures likely continuing to be widely above normal, with the potential for a very warm spell in the south."

The first three months of 2022 saw England's rainfall drop by a quarter - while April too was significantly drier than average in England where there was just 44% of the average rainfall for the month before July went on to break all temperature records, further adding to pressures as water usage increased.

Water supplies come from a mixture of groundwater, where the majority of our supply is taken from, followed by rivers and reservoirs.

A region's drought status is based on several factors including historic rainfall, groundwater and reservoir levels. The last time a drought was officially declared in the UK was in 2018.

The Environment Agency, which says most river flows and groundwater levels are currently ‘below normal’ or ‘notably low’, says there are four stages of drought – prolonged dry weather, drought, severe drought and recovering drought. While a drought is caused by a sustained period of low rainfall, the nature, timing and effects on people, the environment, agriculture or businesses can vary, it adds.

Southern Water, which has come under fire for leaving huge parts of the Isle of Sheppey without water for three days during the hottest part of July, lists its Bewl Water reservoir as currently standing at 64% full, which while below average for the time of year hasn't yet contributed to any temporary use bans for Kent as dwindling water levels have done in other parts of the company's patch.

But water companies across the region are urging customers to use less water as the dry spell continues - among them South East Water, which too battled water problems in Kent villages for five days at the end of last month.
A spokesman said: "We have considered imposing a temporary hosepipe ban to reduce water use, however the implementation process takes time and our focus remains on keeping customers’ taps flowing after a period of extremely high demand for water.

"By asking our customers to voluntarily stop using hosepipes we expect it to have the same effect, resulting in there being enough drinking water for all our customers’ essential use.

"We are monitoring supply and demand in our network every day, and will review this decision should factors change."