This week's water scarcity report has been issued by SEPA but before I come onto that, I can report that for Edinburgh Gogarbank, the latest rainfall total as at 2:40pm BST (13:40 UTC) this afternoon was 12.8 mm for this month (18.6 % of the 1991-2020 June average), 12.8 mm for this summer (5.9 % of the 1991-2020 summer average) and exactly 200.0 mm for this year (25.5% of the 1991-2020 annual average).
The number of rain days for Edinburgh Gogarbank as at that same time was 3 for this month (26.9% of the 1991-2020 June average), 3 for this summer (8.9% of the 1991-2020 summer average) and 38 for this year (27.7% of the 1991-2020 annual average).
Meanwhile and as that same time once again, there has been 1 dry day this month and this summer so far, but 92 dry days this year at Edinburgh Gogarbank.
With all of that in mind though, this week's water scarcity report from SEPA is very mixed this week because although there has been some further rainfall in the last week, there are some a number of locations which are still not getting anything like enough rainfall to get them out of the very serious situation which the very dry spring produced.
The main beneficiaries from this week's rainfall has been the west of Scotland which has gained the most from that. Consequently, a number of areas in the west of Scotland have been downgraded from early warning status as regards to water scarcity to normal status with the Shetland Islands being downgraded from alert status to normal status. In addition to that, there are also a number of areas in the west of Scotland which have been downgraded from alert status to early warning status with those areas including SW Scotland which not so long ago, had been threatened with a possible upgrade to significant water scarcity status had the spring drought gone on for any longer than it did.
The big issue here though comes from the fact that a lot of the last week's rainfall has been showery in nature with a notable rain shadow effect which means that there are still some areas which aren't getting enough rain just now to prevent a further deterioration in the overall situation. The worst areas in that regard are in the east of Scotland with a couple of areas being upgraded from alert status to moderate water scarcity status and for those areas which are currently in the moderate water scarcity status, there is a warning that at least one of those areas could be upgraded to significant water scarcity status if the situation doesn't improve there very soon.
More rainfall is forecast in the coming week but a lot more rain needs to fall with that rainfall occurring more consistently across the whole of Scotland if we are to completely recover from the overall water scarcity situation.
Edited by user
05 June 2025 15:21:31
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Reason: Not specified
The north of Edinburgh, usually always missing out on snow events which occur not just within the rest of Scotland or the UK, but also within the rest of Edinburgh.