THE driest seaside locations have been revealed and you might be pleased to know both of Somerset's biggest beach towns see less rainfall than the UK average – despite this weekend’s downpours and weather warnings.
Calculating which places offer the best chance of a summer staycation without the need to pack an umbrella, hotel booking platform, hoo, gathered rainfall data from the Met Office and information about the largest seaside towns from the Office for National Statistics.
With foreign travel remaining uncertain for another year, it’s looking like a second summer of staycations for UK holidaymakers. Of course, the one uncertainty where a staycation is concerned is the Great British weather.
However, on average, across England and Wales, 938 millimetres of rain falls in a year - the good news is that after hoo analysed rainfall across 51 major seaside towns and found that 90 per cent of them, including Burnham-on-sea and Weston super Mare, come in below the national average.
The best bet for a rain-free staycation is Essex, home to the top three seaside towns with the lowest levels of rain per year.
Southend-on-Sea ranks top with an average of just 515mm, with Clacton-on-Sea (549mm) and nearby Felixstowe (561mm) also offering the best chance of staying dry this summer.
Coming in around halfway down the table, Burnham sees and average of 755mm per year while finding itself much closer to the bottom of the list is Weston receiving 900mm of rain each year.
Watch out if you’re heading to Cornwall though. Surfers’ bolthole Newquay is one of three seaside towns exceeding 1,000mm of annual rainfall – 8 per cent more than the national average. Penarth in Wales is the wettest with 1,152mm of rainfall a year, with Morecambe (1,049) and Newquay (1,017) following close behind.
Adrian Murdock, co-founder of hoom, said: “If last summer taught us anything, it’s that we don’t have to board a plane to have an outstanding holiday by the beach and many of us will be rediscovering just how much Britain has to offer in this respect.
“Of course, the one spanner in the works of a great staycation is often the British weather and a week of rain can really dampen the holiday mood.
“The good news is that the vast majority of British seaside towns are home to below-average levels of rainfall and so fingers-crossed it turns out to be a great couple of months ahead.
“But a trip to the seaside wouldn’t be the same without a little bit of drizzle and if the worst comes to the worst, another British institution can provide refuge while it rains - the pub.”
Average annual rainfall across seaside towns in England and Wales
- Southend-on-Sea – 515mm
- Clacton-on-Sea – 549mm
- Felixstowe – 561mm
- Cleethorpes – 588mm
- Herne Bay – 593mm
- Margate – 593mm
- Ramsgate – 593mm
- Broadstairs – 593mm
- Whitley Bay – 597mm
- Lowestoft – 620mm
- Gorleston-on-Sea – 620mm
- Skegness – 621mm
- Bridlington – 621mm
- Redcar – 629mm
- Great Yarmouth – 636mm
- Whitstable – 646mm
- Scarborough – 692mm
- Ryde – 699mm
- Stubbington – 699mm
- Shoreham-by-Sea – 723mm
- Worthing – 723mm
- Littlehampton – 725mm
- Bognor Regis – 725mm
- Weymouth – 730mm
- Bexhill – 751mm
- Hastings – 751mm
- Burnham-on-Sea – 755mm
- Folkestone – 774mm
- Eastbourne – 795mm
- Seaford – 795mm
- Rhyl – 814mm
- Colwyn Bay – 814mm
- Deal – 817mmm
- Poole – 829mm
- Bournemouth – 835mm
- Christchurch – 835mm
- Formby – 837mm
- Paignton – 848mmm
- Torquay – 848mm
- Exmouth – 848mm
- Fleetwood – 883mm
- Southport – 883mm
- Blackpool – 883mm
- Lytham St Anne's – 883mm
- Weston-Super-Mare – 900mm
- Clevedon – 900mm
- Falmouth – 999mm
- Barry – 999mm
- Newquay – 1017mm
- Morecambe – 1049mm
- Penarth – 1152mm
England and Wales – 938mm
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