Whoever says the UK summer is not sunny is a liar

"Summer in the UK is when rain gets warmer", someone told me once. However, this sentence is not entirely accurate if we have a look back and review weather statistics of this summer. A heat wave hit the UK from the 3rd to 22nd July this year, bringing the driest, warmest and sunniest summer since 2006! 

It has been the driest since 1882, when continuous rainfall records in Bristol started. Between June and August, the rainfall was 133.0mm (when the average is 211.1mm) and we had an average temperature of 18.4*C, making it the 10th warmer summer since 1891, when continuous temperature records began in Bristol. 
Basically it did not rain until mid-August. I heard people complaining about the heat wave, "It is too hot!". But I knew that deep inside, they would love each summer to be as hot as this one. In contrast to the summer in 2012, I smile every time I think of the sunny warm days, with maximum temperature of 31.2*C last August, when Bristolians enjoyed the sun as if we were lizards, lying in the sun, because "All lizards love to lie in the sun".  

You can see daily climatic readings took in Totterdown during August in here. 

Nevertheless the Met Office say this summer was not an unusual summer: "While this summer is warmer, drier and sunnier than the long-term average, it hasn't been exceptional. It stands out because the last six summer have been wetter than average, with 2012 and 2007 both being in the top five wettest".

So, visitors: UK's summers can be dry, warm and very sunny!!

Let's get ready for Autumn now...

NOTE: Diagram took from Met Office website.