News release

31 August 2007

Summer 2007 - a wet season

This summer looks set to have been the wettest since UK rainfall records began in 1914, Met Office figures revealed today.

Provisional rainfall figures (up to 28 August) show that the UK as a whole had 358.5 mm of rain, just beating the previous record of 358.4 mm in 1956. However, since it is such a narrow margin between the figures and further rainfall data has to be gathered, this summer could end up being the second wettest since the UK rainfall series began in 1914.

Keith Groves, Head of Forecasting, said "These figures confirm what most people have already been thinking - this summer has been very wet and very disappointing for most."

The wet summer has been largely caused by the position of the jet stream, a ribbon of very strong winds which brings weather systems across the UK. For much of this summer the jet stream was further south and stronger than in a typical summer -bringing depressions across many parts of the country.

Although very wet, the UK this summer has actually had average temperatures of 14.1 °C.

Provisional summer rainfall figures (up to 28 August): Summer rainfall (mm)   Provisional 2007 total Previous/current record UK 358.5 358.4 (1956) England 324.2 308.2 (1956) Northern Ireland 374.5 404.0 (1958) Scotland 383.3 453.6 (1985) Wales 469.9 499.5 (1927) Notes: UK rainfall series is calculated using all available station data. Not all stations report directly to the Met Office in real-time. Therefore, final rainfall figures could change either up or down. Rainfall expressed as percent of the long-term average is calculated using the average for 1 June to 31 August 1971-2000.