During periods of hot weather, increased demand for water, especially from farmers, puts even more stress on the water supply. Natural weather systems like El Niño can play a key role, as was the case with drought in southern Africa in early 2024.
While some of the world is getting wetter, other parts are becoming drier, which can make them more prone to drought. Heatwaves fuelled by climate change can worsen dry conditions when they do occur by increasing evaporation from the soil.
Scientists compare observed weather with a hypothetical world without human influence on the climate. That way, they can estimate how much a particular heatwave, storm or drought was affected by climate change.
Heatwaves can happen as a result of heat domes, which are created when an area of high pressure stays over the same area for days or weeks, trapping hot air underneath.
Rising global temperatures mean extreme weather events are becoming more common and more intense around the world, fuelled by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.
Linking climate change with specific droughts can be difficult because there are lots of different factors that affect the availability of water.
As the range of daily temperatures shifts to warmer levels, hotter days become more likely and more intense.
2026 was the UK's second worst year for wildfires after 2022, according to provisional data from the housing department.
UK winters were 13% wetter in the decade from 2016 to 2025 than between 1961 and 1990, the Met Office says. The UK experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026, which the Met Office said was made 130 times more likely by climate change.