A full month’s rain in two weeks... now get ready for snow

SOAKED Scots have been told to write off the rest of the summer after official figures showed that the country has already endured an entire month’s rainfall.

Forecasters have done little to lift flagging spirits by admitting that the weather is unlikely to improve during the second half of August.

And to add to the misery, they predict that temperatures are going to drop dramatically – with even the prospect of snow falling on Scottish mountains early next week.

Yesterday Paul Knightley, a spokesman for weather forecasting service MeteoGroup, said that while conditions will become drier after another wet weekend, it is going to be decidedly cooler north of the Border.

He said: ‘ Next week is expected to be drier, but northerly winds bringing in cooler air will make it feel colder than recent days, especially at night.’

Statistics released by the Met Office showed that the UK as a whole suffered nearly its entire average rainfall for August in just the first half of the month.

The figures confirmed there has been 86.1mm (3.4ins) of rain, so far, as the remnants of Hurricane Bertha swept across the country.

This is just short of the 89.5mm ( 3.5ins) monthly average.

Figures also showed that Scotland’s average is even higher, having already been

‘Into full autumn mode’

lashed with 121.4mm (4.8in) of rain – well over the normal average for August of 116.7mm (4.6in).

Householders living in the Inverness and Moray areas will hardly need reminding, however, as hundreds of residents had to be hurriedly evacuated after fears their homes were about to become flooded.

Significant f l ooding in Grampian and many parts of the Highlands also resulted in transport chaos, with rail and road links seriously disrupted by the severe weather conditions.

Rainfall for England and Northern Ireland so far is just under the full monthly average, though Wales has been decidedly drier by comparison.

In Scotland, there appears little sign of a let- up this weekend.

The Met Office has issued a yellow flood warning predicting torrential rainfall in the Central Belt and Southern Scotland. Heavy showers are already being forecast for today and continuing well into tomorrow along with gale force winds gusting at up to 50mph in some areas.

This trend is expected to continue throughout the remainder of August across much of Scotland.

In fact, Channel 4 weatherman Liam Dutton predicted that Scots will be donning weatherproof coats for the rest of the month, writing off our hopes for a last hurrah of summer.

He said: ‘The rest of August has a strong signal for the jet stream remaining over or south of the UK, meaning cooler, unsettled weather will stay with us.

‘For the next ten days, low pressure looks to be prevalent just to the north-east of the UK, putting us in north to north- westerly wind and reaching for a jacket more often.’

British Weather Services senior meteorologist Jim Dale agreed the outlook was for a fall in the mercury and the end of summery conditions.

He explained: ‘ Temperatures next week look 2-4c below average and any improvement later next week looks fleeting, with signs of the Atlantic swinging into full autumn mode by the turn of the month.’