Wales’ ‘grey’ summer actually one of the driest, Met Office say

What may have felt like a disappointingly grey summer for Wales was actually one of the driest, according to the Met Office.

Wales only had 66% of its average rainfall throughout the summer so far, and across Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England the temperature was a degree above average at 15.4C.

The Met Office said the average temperature had been skewed somewhat by a hot and sunny July which caused the Met Office to issue its first ever amber warning for hot weather.

The average temperature was however reduced by a comparatively colder August, which was only the second time in ten years that the temperature had failed to top 30C.

Dr Mark McCarthy of the National Climate Information Centre said: “Obviously there’s still time before the month and season is over, but summer so far is certainly looking drier and warmer than average, that’s despite some of the wet, dull conditions we’ve seen in the southeast [of England] in particular.”

Warmer and wetter summers were to be expected in future, in line with expected trends as a result of climate change, the Met Office said.

The latest edition in an annual series of global climate reports shows that Europe experienced its warmest year in 2020 by a considerable amount.