CITIES in the North are among the driest in the UK, according to a new study.

Durham, York, Newcastle, Sunderland and Ripon are all well down the league rainfall table, according to research by Freeflush, a company harvesting rainwater.

Using data available from the Met Office, the company was able to rank cities based on total annual rainfall, with the Welsh capital Cardiff taking the top spot with 1,152 mm of rainfall annually over 149 days.

Newcastle and Sunderland were the joint sixth driest, according to the research.

They both experienced 597mm of annual rainfall, with rain on 110 days.

York was the 11th driest in the UK with 626mm of rainfall in 2016 over 117 days.

Ripon, 12th driest, had 643mm of rain, with wet weather on 118 days.

Durham, 14th driest, had 651mm of rain, with rainfall on 122 days.

London has been named the driest city and is closely followed by Cambridge, Derry and Ely.

In London it only rains on 109 days with a total of 557mm falling on the capital each year.

Glasgow experiences the most rainy days - 170 - but the overall volume of water falling on the Scottish city is lower than in Cardiff.