UKCP09: 5km Gridded Annual Maximum Consecutive Dry Days for the UK

UK climate data providing annual averages for the maximum number of consecutive dry days across a 5km grid. The dataset contains 12 files, one for each month, representing the 1961-1990 average period. It was created with financial support from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme.

Use Cases

• Modeling drought risk and water resource management based on consecutive dry day patterns.
• Analyzing historical climate variability for the 1961-1990 period across the UK.
• Calibrating or validating hydrological and agricultural models using gridded dry spell data.
• Studying seasonal patterns of dryness from monthly aggregated files.

Strengths

• Provides data on a consistent 5km spatial grid covering the UK.
• Contains 12 monthly files for detailed seasonal analysis of a 30-year (1961-1990) climatology.
• Created with support from a national government department (Defra) and a recognized climate program (UKCIP).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The data represents a historical baseline (1961-1990) and may not reflect recent climate trends.
• Access requires registration on the Met Office website, adding a step to data acquisition.

Provenance

Source

Met Office (UK)

Collection Method

Gridded climate projection data from the UKCP09 program.

Time Range

1961-1990 average period

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:09.548114; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom, 5km grid resolution