Water firm announces first hosepipe ban in 50 years as UK faces 'most changeable week' of weather since June
The ban will come into effect at midnight on Tuesday and impact 1.4 million customers.
Wessex Water has announced its first hosepipe ban in 50 years after the UK went weeks without rain, but the dry spell is coming to an end as Britain faces its “most changeable week of weather” since June.
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The company has become the latest firm to announce the ban after repeated heatwaves and an extensive dry spell.
It will come into effect at midnight on Tuesday and impact all its 1.4 million customers across Bath, Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire.
This marks the first time in 50 years such a ban has been imposed by the firm.
It comes as forecasters say low pressure moving in from the Atlantic will bring wind, showers and longer spells of rain to many parts of the UK in the coming days.
Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: "I can't promise rain for all of us through the week ahead, but in the south at least, it's looking like the most changeable week we've seen here - well at least since the end of June."
He added that Brits could see some "quite menacing skies" with "dark clouds one moment and some sunshine the next".
Temperatures are set to cool, and rain is set to fall in some areas in coming days, extreme heat is expected to return after that.
The Met Office is warning there is a chance of another late-season hot spell - particularly in southern England.
In its long-range forecast for 30 August to 13 September, the forecaster said: “There is a chance that late-season hot spells or heatwaves develop, especially in the south."
It would mark the UK’s sixth heatwave of the summer, following a season of record-breaking temperatures, drought warnings and major wildfires.
The fifth heatwave saw temperatures reach 38.1°C, the highest recorded so far this year, while the Government urged people not to use disposable barbecues amid the heightened wildfire risk.
Firefighters spent the past week battling wildfires across the UK, with major incidents in the West Midlands, South Wales and Hampshire as blazes swept through homes, grassland and countryside.
More wildfires have now struck England and Wales in 2026 so far than in the whole of 2025.
Nineteen homes were destroyed and another 18 damaged when a wildfire tore through more than 500 acres near Stourbridge in the West Midlands on Thursday.
Meanwhile, wildfires continue to spread across South Wales, as the region's fire and rescue service said it was experiencing "unprecedented demand".
Experts have described the current conditions as a “firewave”, driven partly by a heat dome, as high pressure brings sinking air and clearer skies.