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The warning came with droughts already declared in Yorkshire and the north-west of England this year following what the Met Office says is the warmest and driest Spring in more than half a century.

England experienced just 32.8mm of rain last month in what was its driest spring in more than 100 years.

The UK has recorded its warmest spring on record and its driest in more than 50 years, provisional Met Office figures show.

The prediction follows an unprecedented spring which was the sunniest, as well as one of the driest and warmest, on record.

Scientists have determined that the last 25 years have probably been the driest quarter-century in western North America in 1,200 years, a severe megadrought that research shows is being intensified by rising temperatures.