#1Queenborough
Kent · 3,915 peopleRain a year·11 days of 10 mm+·#1 of 87 in Kent
Queenborough, #1 on this list · Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland · Climate
Driest towns in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Queenborough, Kent, is the driest of 2,537 towns and cities of 2,500+ in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 521 mm of rain in a typical year (Met Office, 1991–2020). The typical town here gets 776 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 area rank sits beside each figure.
#1521mm
#T2Jaywick
Essex · 5,080 peopleRain a year·11 days of 10 mm+·#1 of 81 in Essex
#T2Sheerness
Kent · 13,253 peopleRain a year·11 days of 10 mm+·#2 of 87 in Kent
The top 100
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 area rank links to that area’s list.
100 towns on this page. Counties and council areas with 15 or more towns have their own list.
#TownRain a yearDays 10 mm+County rank
Quick answers
Questions people ask
What is the driest town in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Queenborough, Kent: 521 mm of rain in a typical year, the most in November 60 mm. Jaywick, Essex and Sheerness, Kent 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?
Every town of 2,500+ is ranked here; each county with 15 or more such towns has its own list, linked below.
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.