Distribution, trends, and drivers of flash droughts in the United Kingdom

Noguera, Iván; Hannaford, Jamie; Tanguy, Maliko

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1295-2025

Articles | Volume 29, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1295-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Drought, society, and ecosystems (NHESS/BG/GC/HESS inter-journal...

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1295-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 29, issue 5

Research article

|

11 Mar 2025

Research article |

| 11 Mar 2025

Distribution, trends, and drivers of flash droughts in the United Kingdom

Iván Noguera, Jamie Hannaford, and Maliko Tanguy

Data sets

HadUK-Grid gridded and regional average climate observations for the UK Met Office et al. http://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/4dc8450d889a491ebb20e724debe2dfb/

Potential evapotranspiration derived from HadUK-Grid 1km gridded climate observations 1969-2022 (Hydro-PE HadUK-Grid) M. J. Brown et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/beb62085-ba81-480c-9ed0-2d31c27ff196

Short summary

The study provides a detailed characterisation of flash drought in the UK for 1969–2021. The spatio-temporal distribution and trends of flash droughts are highly variable, with important regional and seasonal contrasts. In the UK, flash drought development responds primarily to precipitation variability, while the atmospheric evaporative demand plays a secondary role. We also found that the North Atlantic Oscillation is the main circulation pattern controlling flash drought development.