Rain dampens summer solstice and Glastonbury preparations

Parts of festival site under water days before fans arrive, and clouds may obscure view of strawberry moon

Rain falls during Glastonbury three years ago. The festival looks set to be soggy again this year. Photograph: Ian Gavan/Getty Images

Put away the flip-flops and dig out those wellies still caked with last year’s mud: Glastonbury weekend looks set to be a soggy affair.

After heavy rain in recent days, parts of the festival site in Somerset resemble a vast muddy lake days before 177,000 festivalgoers are due to arrive.

Footage taken by a member of staff after a deluge on Friday showed one area under at least a foot of water.

Monday marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and astronomical beginning of summer. The season started with rain across the south and Midlands, though the sun managed to break through further north.

Thousands of people will make their way to Stonehenge in Wiltshire on Monday to mark the solstice. If the clouds give way, there could be a glimpse of a rare phenomenon: a strawberry moon – a full moon that marks the start of the strawberry season – coinciding with the solstice for the first time in almost 50 years.

After the wet start to Monday the rain is expected to clear. Simon Partridge, a forecaster at the Met Office, said: “It’s a very wet start but it’s not unusual to get a weather front coming across the UK at this time of year. It will brighten up through this afternoon and this evening, which should give us a few clear spells which should give a chance to do some moon-gazing.”

He said there was a good chance of patchy cloud over Stonehenge and this could affect the view, though there would be some “decent sunny spells” during 17 hours of daylight.

The rest of the week looks set to be mostly dry, but come Saturday there could be more rain – though it should relent by the time Adele takes to the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in the evening.

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