Soggy summer is all set to squelch on as more rain forecast

HOPES of a summer of sun have all but vanished after a sodden July and a miserable forecast of a wet August ahead, experts said.

It may have delivered the hottest day of the year so far for Scotland, but July 2016 will be remembered for relentless rainfall, particularly in the North-West of the country.

The Western Isles were deluged by 188.8mm (7.4 inches) of rain, the equivalent to 85 per cent more than a normal July. And with a couple of wet days of the month left, that soggy total is expected to rise further.

By contrast, St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight endured only 1.4mm of rain in the same period.

Nicky Maxey of the Met Office said: ‘That statistic tends to underline the enormous difference between north and south in July. The Isle of Wight received only 11 per cent of the rainfall it would normally expect in the month.

‘Across Scotland, the 137mm (5.4 inches) of rain was 38 per cent above the July average.’

Disappointingly, the start of August on Monday brings little prospect of wall-to-wall sunshine.

In Scotland, July was also a duller month, compared to normal. The figure of 96.6 hours of sunshine represents only two-thirds of what we could normally expect.

Many of them came on Tuesday July 19, the hottest day of the year at 82f (27.8c).

Parks and beaches were crammed with sun worshippers, desperate for a taste of summer sunshine while it lasted. However, the heavens opened the following day, as Scotland paid the price for searing heat over Northern Ireland and England.

Thunderstorms tracked west and then north-east over the country, battering Scotland with an estimated 40,000 lightning strikes, with associated torrential rain.

In Denny, Stirlingshire, locals reported what sounded like an ‘explosion’ as a bolt of lightning smashed into the 200-year-old steeple of Denny Parish Church.

The lightning bounced into the next door Denny Cross Medical Centre, slightly injuring a member of staff.

It transpired a medical receptionist was struck by a bolt of electricity as her leg rested against the metal leg of a chair.

In Kirkpatrick-Fleming, near Gretna in Dumfriesshire, a Facebook user posted pictures of hail stones the size of birds’ eggs that rained down on her garden.

The month was generally cooler than average, with a mean temperature of 62f (16.5c) being 0.5c below normal.

Miss Maxey said: ‘July began cooler but warmed up as the month went on.

‘The daytime temperatures were slightly cooler but these were evened out by the marginally warmer night-time temperatures.’ Hopes had been high that 2016 may see a repeat of the 1976 heatwave so extreme it brought water restrictions across the country.

Sadly, there is little prospect of that happening now, as August is looking highly unsettled.

The forecaster added: ‘August begins on Monday very unsettled. Showers and rain will be followed by decent spells of dry weather.

‘But we are looking at a changeable regime right through the month. A pattern is emerging of fronts coming through quite regularly, followed by brief spells of better weather.

‘Changeable conditions look like lasting right through August.’