It felt it
This summer has officially been confirmed as the coldest the UK has experienced in almost a decade.
Although the south of England managed to experience a somewhat normal summer – and the mercury touched almost 35C in Cambridge – the mean daily temperatures across the UK was 14.37C.
This was 0.22C below the long-term summer average, bucking the trend of recent years, which have seen Britain experience some very warm summers during June, July and August.
In fact, this year has been the coolest summer since 2015.
Met Office Scientist Emily Carlisle explained: “I don’t think it will surprise anyone that this summer has been cooler than average for the UK.
“Mean temperatures in both June and July were below average, with temperatures in August only slightly above.
“This was largely due to northerly winds bringing cold Arctic air to the UK in June and July, while August saw an increase in westerly winds bringing slightly warmer Atlantic air.
“Although we had some heatwaves and bursts of hot weather, these were fairly short-lived and conditions across the whole three months were pretty unsettled.
“August was the wettest month of the summer, with some places in Scotland experiencing double their average summer rainfall during the month and Storm Lilian bringing strong winds and heavy rain at the end.”
But whilst this summer may have been chillier than recent years, it would actually have been considered a warm one if compared to the average from 1961-1990.
Five of the top 10 hottest UK summers on record have occurred since 2000.
Carlisle added: “It’s important to note where it sits in a historical context, with the changing climate of the UK increasing the frequency of warmer summers, as can be observed through our observations.
“While climate change increases the frequency of warmer weather in the UK, our natural variability means that we’ll still experience cooler than average summers at times.”
