Changing Weather Patterns – Evidence & Suggestions

Water scarcity in 2025 has been a persistent issue and the dry summer conditions brought challenges for many farmers, crofters and land managers across the country.  

2025 has been unique in how early the dry period and low flows in rivers started. Historically, the pattern shows that it was rare to get low flow days in May with records only showing 2-3 days recorded across 4 separate calendar years while May 2025 seen a record number of 27 low flow days.  

The situation this year was exacerbated by the drier than normal conditions across Autumn and Winter 2024. Autumn 2024 was the 5th driest autumn in 100 years followed by lower-than-average rainfall across Dec 2024, Jan 2025 and Feb 2025. Furthermore there was less snow accumulation which all resulted in low groundwater recharge.  

The challenging conditions continued throughout the summer resulting in the first half of 2025 being the driest in the east since 1973.  

To protect the water environment, SEPA introduced restrictions on around 270 abstraction licences with farmers and distilleries amongst those affected.  

While Storm Amy did bring rainfall and we can now see a clear East/West divide in relation to water scarcity, as of the 16th October report, there were still 3 areas in Scotland at significant water scarcity highlighting the continued pressure on Scotland’s rivers. You can see individual areas and their current ratings in the recent SEPA report – 16 October 2025 | Beta | SEPA | Scottish Environment Protection Agency  

Now we are into Autumn, rainfall levels need to be higher than average in the coming months to replenish water resources and ensure the deficits across 2024 and 2025 can be reversed. Without higher than average rainfall, it will mean that we start the 2026 spring season with low water levels which could see restrictions to water use brought in earlier than this year. Businesses can start to prepare for this by monitoring their water usage and aiming to find ways to reduce consumption. Autumn and Winter is a good time to investigate and cost out various offline storage options to see what could be a potential for your business and start to build that contingency plan for 2026.

It is important that agricultural businesses build resilience into their system and look at ways to sustain water availability during peak times. FAS has lots of useful resources on these topics as well as how to deal with the impacts of extreme weather.  

Responding to Changing Weather | Helping farmers in Scotland 

Sustainable Water Management | Helping farmers in Scotland