Weather Watch: A month of contrasts sees record cold nights

Generally speaking, the UK had a rather cool month, with average temperatures 0.7C below the norm.

This cool theme was more pronounced to the northwest, with temperatures to the southeast nearer to average.

It was also a wet month overall, with the country seeing 40 per cent more rain than would normally be expected.

However, these averages hide some rather notable statistics.

The start of the month saw a brief but intense heatwave.

Heathrow airport recorded the highest ever July temperature in the UK, at a scorching 36.7C, the warmest temperature seen since August 2003.

Nearby Tring and Chesham both recorded 34.3C.

This heat became a distant memory as, towards the end of the month, we saw some record cold night-time temperatures.

South Newington in Oxfordshire saw the mercury drop to just 1C on July 31, whilst Chesham and also Exeter Airport saw minimum temperatures of 2C.

The Scottish mountains even saw some falling snow across the peaks.

Rainfall was near average in our part of the world, although over half the month’s rain fell in just one very wet day on the 24th when between 35mm and 40mm of rain was recorded.

There were also some spectacular thunderstorms on the night of the 3rd with vivid lightning displays.

So what can we expect for the coming days?

Well it looks fairly warm but unsettled for the end of this week, with some heavy, thundery downpours possible.

There will still be some showers over the weekend, especially on Saturday, and temperatures could be on the disappointing side, struggling to get out of the teens.