The Met Office has revised its forecast for the remainder of the summer, admitting that earlier predictions of baking hot weather were wildly optimistic.
Despite promising a “barbecue summer” in April, the national weather service now says that August will be characterised by overcast skies and regular downfalls.
Rainfall will be “near or above average” for the remainder of the summer, while average temperatures are unlikely to break through the mid-teens.
Philip Eden, Vice President of the Royal Meteorological Society, speculated that the Met Office may have been pressured to give an overly optimistic prediction.
“The big problem with these forecasts was the spin that was put on it by the Met Office’s press office,” he told BBC Radio 4. “We don’t actually know very much about the forcing factors … which affect the weather during a period of, say, a month or three months ahead.”
