UK summer the coolest for 18 years

Met Office says average temperature was 13.6C, the lowest since 1993, with forecasts for a wetter and colder September than usual Hopes of a sunny summer to offset the UK’s economic misery have been dashed by confirmation that the holiday season has been the country’s coolest for 18 years. Chill and damp on a scale not seen since 1993 may also break further doleful records if Met Office forecasts are right in predicting a wetter and colder September than usual. The letdown follows delightful false starts in April and June, which raised hopes that belt-tightening breaks in the countryside or on the coast might be blessed by the sort of weather more usually found in Spain or southern France. The nearest any part of the country came to that, in the event, was the sunniest July on record in Northern Ireland and an unusually dry spell across the Midlands in England and East Anglia. The average temperature for the summer so far has been 13.6C (57F), which needs very little further gloom to take it below the previous low of 13.4C in 1993. Last year’s summer was wetter but just above 1C warmer, although there has not been a “good” holiday season even by the UK’s modest standards for five years. The Met Office used the most familiar term in British forecasting by summing up the pattern as changeable, a word which recurs in predictions up to the end of September. A spokeswoman said: “Sunshine in August has been about three-quarters of what you would normally expect. We have had some very hot spells, such as back in June when temperatures reached 33C. But equally we have seen much cooler and wetter spells. It has been a changeable summer.” The weather rained off periods of some of the big seasonal sporting events including Test cricket matches and Wimbledon, but added excitement to the tennis as large storms roved around and the Centre Court roof opened and closed, and fixtures were all completed. Worse hit have been the many music festivals whose gamble on the British summer seldom came off this year. Organisers of the Friends of Mine festival near Macclesfield, Cheshire, in May owe about £200,000 to musicians and associated businesses after planning problems were compounded by bad weather on the day, which led to meagre “walk-in” ticket sales. Meanwhile, supermarkets face the prospect of autumn sales of barbecues, garden furniture and other optimistic summer stock. The weather has at least taken much of the sting out of concern that the popularity of tropical houseplants, including small bamboos supposed to bring good fortune, might encourage mosquitoes to breed in the UK. Although the damp suits the insects, the chill is expected to see a fall in reports of suspected mosquito bites, whose rate from 1996-2006 was 2.5 times higher than in the previous decade. Weather Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 31, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.