#1Jaywick
5,080 peopleRain a year·11 days of 10 mm+·#2 of 2,537 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Jaywick, #1 on this list · Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0Essex rankings · Climate
Driest towns in Essex
Jaywick is the driest of Essex’s 81 towns of 2,500+: 528 mm of rain in a typical year (Met Office, 1991–2020). The typical town here gets 590 mm.
Rain in a typical year, in millimetres. Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages on its 2 km grid, the cells inside each town averaged (contains Met Office data © Crown copyright). A described list: no letters. The rank across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sits beside each figure.
#1528mm
#2Great Wakering
6,774 peopleRain a year·11 days of 10 mm+·#4 of 2,537 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
#T3Ashingdon
6,490 peopleRain a year·11 days of 10 mm+·#5 of 2,537 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
All 81 towns, ranked
Rain a year, lowest first. Towns smaller than a 2 km cell share its figures. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T = tied). Each rank across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland links to the national list.
81 towns.
#TownRain a yearDays 10 mm+UK rank
Quick answers
Questions people ask
What is the driest town in Essex?
Jaywick: 528 mm of rain in a typical year, the most in October 56 mm. Great Wakering and Ashingdon follow.
How are these towns ranked?
By the rain that falls in a typical year, least first, from the Met Office’s 1991–2020 averages on its 2 km grid: the cells inside the town, or the one nearest its centre for a town smaller than a cell. The figure is the one on each town’s Climate page.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers Essex’s towns of 2,500+ with the figure. Smaller places show it on their own pages; every town in Essex is on the county page.
Go deeper
All Essex rankings →More Essex lists
Every list ranks the same 2,500+ towns, so a town’s rank means the same thing on each.
Best places to live81 towns · #1 Saffron WaldenBest small towns48 towns · #1 Stansted MountfitchetMost affordable towns81 towns · #1 BerechurchSafest towns81 towns · #1 Great TothamTowns with the best schools81 towns · #1 Kelvedon and FeeringHealthiest towns81 towns · #1 NewportBest towns for jobs & income81 towns · #1 Theydon BoisMost walkable towns81 towns · #1 BroomfieldTowns with the lowest flood risk81 towns · #1 Berechurch and 9 moreBest towns for the outdoors81 towns · #1 LawfordMost historic towns81 towns · #1 CoggeshallTowns with the most civic life81 towns · #1 ThaxtedTowns with the highest household incomes81 towns · #1 NewportDescribed, no lettersTowns with the lowest council tax81 towns · #1 JaywickDescribed, no lettersTowns with the mildest winters81 towns · #1 Canvey IslandDescribed, no lettersTowns with the warmest summers81 towns · #1 Buckhurst HillDescribed, no lettersTowns with the coolest summers81 towns · #1 ElsenhamDescribed, no lettersTowns with the fewest frosts81 towns · #1 JaywickDescribed, no lettersWettest towns81 towns · #1 North Weald BassettDescribed, no letters
County by county
Driest towns, county by county
AberdeenshireBedfordshireBerkshireBuckinghamshireCambridgeshireCheshireClwydCornwallCounty DurhamCumbriaDerbyshireDevonDorsetDyfedEast Riding of YorkshireEast SussexEssexFifeGloucestershireGreater ManchesterGwentHampshireHertfordshireHighlandKentLancashireLeicestershireLincolnshireLondonMerseysideMid GlamorganNorfolkNorth LanarkshireNorth YorkshireNorthamptonshireNorthumberlandNottinghamshireOxfordshireShropshireSomersetSouth LanarkshireSouth YorkshireStaffordshireSuffolkSurreyTyne and WearWarwickshireWest GlamorganWest MidlandsWest SussexWest YorkshireWiltshireWorcestershire
Sources: . All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.