July rains supreme
Summer washout as this month is on track to be wettest on record
SUMMER has officially been put on hold as forecasters warn the great holiday washout could last until mid-August.
Even more showers, gales and below average temperatures look set to blight Britain for the next fortnight or so.
With the unsettled outlook, Scotland is on track for one of its wettest Julys on record.
By last Friday, we had been deluged by 26 per cent more rain than the usual average for the whole month.
A Met Office spokesman said yesterday: ‘It’s going to be changeable as we move into August, with unsettled conditions. There will be outbreaks of rain and there is scope for it being windy – even seeing gales around the coast.’
‘ It is on course to be a very wet July. The record for Scotland was in 1998 when 193mm fell, and up until the 24th we had 118mm.’
The unseasonal weather saw a 1,600ft-high twister strike near Carnwath, Lanarkshire, on Saturday.
Today is forecast to be a lot colder, with the temperature falling as low as an autumnal 51f (11c) in places.
Met Office forecaster John Mitchell said: ‘For Monday, there will be outbreaks of rain across much of Scotland, persistent across the Borders. Further north, across the far North, it will be brighter with sunny spells, but it’s rain elsewhere for much of the day.
‘A north-easterly wind will make it feel colder – Glasgow might see around 11c, which is seven to eight degrees below the average for the time of year.’
Bookmaker Coral said it had cut the odds on July being the wettest on record across the UK to 2-1 from 6-1, while Ladbrokes said that it had suspended all bets on the subject.
The conditions are in stark contrast to the heatwave at the beginning of the month, with the warmest July 1 for nearly 40 years as swathes of Scotland saw the mercury soar to a high of 84.9f (29.4c).
Meteogroup forecaster Gareth Harvey said: ‘Next weekend is looking very unsettled. Further on into August, it looks there won’t be any spells of long, decent summer weather we can look forward to.’
Over 2015 as a whole, Britain is now on track for its windiest year for at least two decades.
According to Met Office figures, only eight calm days – defined as 20 or more UK weather stations having peak gusts of less than 12mph – have been recorded in the first seven months of the year.
Fewer than 22 calm days over the year would make 2015 the windiest year since 1995.