WANDER IN WONDER
Arlo Newman, six, from Horsforth, Leeds, looks at the wondrous formations in Ingleborough Cave, which has opened again to visitors. The show cave is close to the village of Clapham in North Yorkshire, adjacent to where the water from Gaping Gill resurges.
YORKSHIRE MAY have had a disappointing end to a disappointing summer, but there was at least a welcoming glimmer of sun on Bank Holiday Monday.
Crowds were pictured in Scarborough and the Dales amidst bursts of sunshine yesterday.
It was a welcome turn despite temperatures being “unseasonably cool” throughout the three- day weekend ending a summer of extreme weather for Britain.
Over recent weeks, the country has seen two named storms, a heatwave, days of heavy rainfall and the hottest August day recorded in 17 years.
In contrast to this year’s chilly end of summer, last year’s August Bank Holiday Monday was the hottest on record when the mercury hit 33.2C.
Alex Burkill, meteorologist at the Met Office, said that the variety of hot, cold and windy weather would likely not be reflected in the monthly averages.
“We’ve not broken any records with how cold it’s got,” he said.
“Daytime temperatures ( on Sunday) did struggle, but the lowest maximum temperature was 12.5C and the record is 9.1C, so we’re quite far off that.”
Weather in Yorkshire yesterday was unremarkable with moments of sun flanked by overcast skies, while forecasters predict more chilly weather into the week.
Mr Burkill added: “Monday daytime temperatures will struggle again, probably only just about getting into double figures in some places, but I’d be surprised if we broke any records.
“It has been quite extreme at times, we’ve had some very hot weather and then the two storms towards the end of the month.
“Even this bank holiday has been unseasonably cool, it’s not that often that we get temperatures around freezing in August.
“( The weather) has brought everything this month and that’s not really going to be captured in the monthly averages. They’re not going to show the extremes that we’ve had.”
It has been quite extreme – we’ve had very hot weather and storms. Alex Burkill, Met Office meteologist.