Peterborough has wettest March for years - but remains in ‘drought status’

Despite the wettest March recorded in Peterborough for years, the city remains in drought conditions, Anglian Water has said.

Residents in the city hardly ever got the chance to put their umbrella away at the start of spring, with plenty of rain falling throughout the month.

Peterborough weather forecaster Trevor Robbins-Pratt said it was the wettest March had had recorded since he started recording in 2006.

East Anglia remains in ‘drought status’

However, Anglian Water has said that one month of heavy rain cannot ‘rebalance the many dry months we've experienced over the last 12 months,’ which saw a record breaking heatwave see temperatures soaring last summer.

A spokesperson for Anglian Water said: “While March was unusually wet, one particularly wet month alone can't rebalance the many dry months we've experienced over the last 12 months. East Anglia remains in ‘drought status’ with the East of our region, in particular, seeing rainfall rates well below normal yearly averages.

"The rainfall we have had over the winter, and in the last month, has helped our region's reservoirs recover, but we are still monitoring our rivers and groundwater sources as these generally take longer to recover from prolonged dry periods.

“We’re continuing to monitor the situation closely but if the rainfall we’re currently getting doesn’t continue to replenish our groundwater supplies and allow river levels to recover, we may still need to consider temporary restrictions this year.”

Fourth wettest month in Peterborough since 2006

Mr Robbins-Pratt, from Peterborough Weather Watch, said: “I recorded 121.5mm of rain in March, my highest ever March total recorded in my data series, which started in 2006, and my 4th highest monthly total. My March average rainfall is 37.8mm. My previous highest March total was back in 2016 when I recorded 75.0mm.

"To put this years March rainfall into perspective, the last four years, I have recorded 51.5mm, 26.8mm, 19.7mm and 44.0mm of rain in March.

"It has been a 'relatively dry start to the year. The first two months of this year, I recorded a combined total of 64.5mm, compared to an average of 84mm since 2006, so you can see per centage wise, that is a bit of a deficit from the average.”

Bank holiday weekend weather forecast

As for the all important Easter bank holiday weekend weather, Trevor said there was a chance it would at least stay dry for much of it. He said: “It looks like it will be a little more unsettled through the week, perhaps with some rain overnight on Wednesday into Thursday morning. There are bright spells with variable cloud forecast for Friday. At the moment, the weekend looks to be generally cloudy, but with some brighter spells. Mild temperatures at around 12°C to 14°C are forecast. There is a a rather unsettled look into/through next week with spells of rain at times from Monday afternoon.”