Summer warmest, driest and sunniest since 2006

Following years of disappointingly cool and wet summers, this year broke the recent trend and delivered prolonged spells of sunshine and warmth across the UK.

Early figures include observations from 1 June until 28 August and assume average conditions for the final three days of the month. Finalised figures may change slightly once they have been checked.

Mean temperature, an average of day and night temperatures, for this summer was 15.2C, which is 0.8C above average and likely to place this summer as the 8th to 10th warmest on record.

One of the most notable features of summer this year has been the prolonged spells of sunshine and heat.

July’s heatwave gave 19 consecutive days where the temperature somewhere in the UK reached 28C or above – something that last happened in August 1997.

The hottest day of the summer was on 1 August, when the mercury soared to 34.1C at Heathrow airport in London.

With the warmth came the sunshine. This summer is likely to be the 7th sunniest on record, with sunshine 17 per cent above average.

While rainfall was 22 per cent below normal this summer, there were still some very wet days. On 23 July, torrential rain caused flash-flooding parts of the Midlands, northern England and Scotland.

This year’s fine summer has been down to the position of the jet stream – the fast-moving ribbon of air five miles above our heads that drives the weather that we experience at the surface.

Summer 2013 has seen the jet stream spending much of the time sitting north of the UK, taking low pressure, wind and rain towards Iceland. This has allowed high pressure, heat and sunshine to persist for most of the time.

Recent summers have seen the jet stream sitting south of the UK, bringing some of the wettest summers on record.