Waving goodbye to another British summer – among the wettest ever
As this weekend marked the last few official days of summer, Sunday’s storms sealed one of the “wettest summers in 52 years”.
Despite highs of 27 degrees celsius in the south and east, there was little sign of sunshine and the forecast remained dull and thundery. Sun lovers had a little more luck on Saturday, with a short taste of 27 degree sunshine in London, making it the hottest day of the month.
Overall this summer’s weather has been less than impressive.
Official figures report 40 per cent more rain fell than usual between June and August, a total of 317mm of water.
The wettest summer since records began was in 1956 when 358.4mm were recorded.
Within the UK some local rainfall records were broken, especially in parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland, where flooding severely affected road rail and transport earlier this year.
Figures show Northern Ireland had its wettest August since 1914 and the UK experienced its fewest hours of sunshine since records began.
An unexpected role reversal was experienced by lucky locals of the usually dull Shetland Islands , who enjoyed more sunshine hours than most years – over 150 hours of sun in August.
Other areas of the UK, however, failed to see even 100 hours. Wittering, in Cambridgeshire, which is usually one of the brightest areas in the UK saw just 106 hours of sun.
Moving Britain into the autumn, the Met Office’s forecast for the week ahead is wet and dull, with temperatures expected to peak at 19 degrees celsius on Thursday and Friday.