Following a second quarter that was the wettest on record, the Olympics period in central London brought slightly less rain than normal, a spokeswoman for the Met Office, the U.K. weather agency, said Sunday.

WSJ: Social Media

In marked contrast, some places across the eastern half of England recorded less than 1 mm of rain in the whole month.

BBC: Weather - UK Review - April 2011

The Los Angeles area has received less than 2 inches of rain since January, making the bone-dry region "definitely ripe for these fires, " said William Patzert, a NASA climatologist.

CNN: Fire rages in California even as winds die down