Washout: Wettest Summer In 100 Years - Sky News

England and Wales have seen the wettest summer for 100 years, according to MeteoGroup.

Rainfall for June, July and August was 362mm (14.25in), making it the wettest summer since 1912. The average summer rainfall across the UK is 226.9mm (8.9in).

MeteoGroup forecaster Nick Prebble said this summer is set to be the fourth wettest since records began in 1727. The record for the UK's wettest summer is 1912 when 384.4mm (15.1in) of rain fell.

The Met Office said this summer is also likely to be one of the dullest on record with just 399 hours of sunshine up to August 28. This would make it the dullest since 1980 when the UK saw only 396 hours of sunshine.

The figures come after unsettled weather over the Bank Holiday weekend that left many parts of the UK with heavy rain and flood alerts.

Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said: "It didn't start well, with the wettest ever June, and the first half of July was very wet too. After that the weather settled down a bit, but the end of August has been wet in places.

"The jet stream position (a narrow band of fast flowing westerly winds high in the atmosphere) over the summer has allowed areas of low pressure to track across the UK, when they would typically be steered further north."

The UK's second wettest summer since 1912 was in 2007 when 357.8mm (14.09in) of rain fell.

Of the three summer months, August looks set to be the driest and sunniest across the UK with 105.5mm (4.15in) of rain to August 29, according to the Met Office.

Mr Prebble said: "June was wet, dull and cold. It was pretty relentless low pressure, very unsettled weather and a thoroughly miserable month.

"July wasn't as wet as June but it was still wetter than average. We haven't quite got to the end of August yet but we're expecting rainfall to be a few millimetres above the average."