Looking back at this summer, it may not come as a surprise that provisional figures from the UK Met. Office suggest it has been the warmest, driest and sunniest summer since 2006. Summer, meteorologically is June, July and August. So Autumn is with us on Sunday 1st Sept. The figures are currently provisional as they only include up to August 28th, so an update is on its way early in Sept. Average temperatures were 0.8C above, rainfall at only 78% of the usual for those months and sunshine hours at 117%.
To explain these percentages: if the usual rainfall in summer was 200mm (nearly 8”) then only 156mm fell – for example. Similarly, if 200 hours of sunshine was expected in summer, then 117% would be 234 hours.
What probably makes this summer stand out in the public’s mind is the comparison to recent years, when the summers have been noticeably wet and even cool. July will be remembered for the long duration of the heatwave conditions, with dry, sunny and hot weather for most of the UK. The top temperature for the year was actually in August, only just on the 1st at 34.1C (93.4F) at Heathrow. The warmest day since 2006. Northern Ireland was particularly warm, averaging 1.1C above the 30 year average for the summer months. Wales was extra sunny with nearly 125% of expected sunshine, so a whole quarter extra of summer sunshine.
