UK Met Office predicts warm summer by Steph BallThe UK Met Office has today issued its forecast for the approaching summer, predicting that it will be a warm one. Indications suggest there is at least a 70% chance that the summer temperatures will be above average, with a 1 in 8 chance that values could match the 38.5C (101F) record set in 2003.
This follows confirmation by the Met Office that the UK has had the warmest April on record, since records began in 1659. The highest individual temperature recorded through the month was 26.5C (80F) at Herstmonceux, East Sussex on the 15th April.
Provisionally the third sunniest April on record, the UK has been dominated by high pressure over the last few weeks which have led to record temperatures and a lack of rainfall.
It is not just the UK that has been breaking records, with France, Germany and Belgium all experiencing temperatures well above average. In contrast Spain has been suffering from an unusually wet spring so far and some late snow falls.
With bookies already taking bets that May’s UK temperature record will be broken this month it feels like summer has already begun
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/news/01052007news.shtml
