GLOUCESTER is suffering through its driest summer since the Bureau of Meteorology first started keeping records 125 years ago.
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From the start of December to the end of January there was just 29.8mm of rain recorded in Gloucester.
Rainfall records taken at Gloucester Post Office that date back to 1888 show there has never been a drier start to a summer in the town.
The previous driest December-January period was in 1982-83, with 66.2mm recorded.
Conditions that summer were exacerbated by a dry November in 1982 in which just 12mm of rain fell. In contrast, Gloucester enjoyed its wettest November since 1924 in 2013 - the third wettest November ever - with 209.8mm of rain recorded.
Gloucester received just 9.2mm of rain in January, the lowest falls in more than 100 years. Not since 1903, when there was no rain recorded, has there been less rain to start a year.
The forecast for the remainder of summer is less bleak with between 10 to 20mm of rain predicted across the region today and falls of between 1mm and 5mm expected for the remainder of the week.
