Wettest summer in 100 years

Flood water

This summer is set to be the second wettest in the UK since records began - and the wettest summer in 100 years - provisional Met Office figures suggest.

The wettest summer - defined as June, July and August - since national records began was in 1912.

Figures up until 29 August show that 366.8 mm of rain fell across the UK this summer, compared with 384.4 mm rainfall in 1912.

The April to June period was also the wettest recorded in the UK.

The figures are provisional as there are still two days remaining in August, but the BBC Weather Centre said the rainfall was not expected to exceed the total amount in 1912. Records began in 1910.

The Environment Agency issued more than 1,000 river flood alerts and warnings between 1 June and 15 July, the most issued in a summer since 2007.

August 2012 looks set to be the driest and sunniest of the three summer months across the UK, with 105.5 mm of rain to 29 August, and 140 hours of sunshine up to 28 August.

The mean temperature for August was 15.7 °C - in a month that also saw the hottest day of the year so far, reaching 32.4 °C at Cavendish, Suffolk, on 18 August.

Summer 2012 is also likely to be one of the dullest summers on record, with just 399 hours of sunshine up to 28 August.

It is the dullest summer since 1980, when the UK saw only 396 hours of sunshine.