Much of the UK was blessed with fine, warm weather earlier in the summer

A cooler and wetter August has dragged down this summer’s ratings to something like average.

The Met Office said that, though June and July were some of the best summer months seen in recent years, August bucked the trend and is likely to end up cooler than average.

The meteorological summer ends in two days’ time, with the mean temperature likely to be just half a degree above the long-term average.

The wettest areas during August were north-eastern Scotland, parts of northern England and the Midlands, the South-West and South-East.

Mean temperatures up to 27 August for the UK were 1.1C below average. Overall figures for the three summer months are likely to be about 14.8C.

The Met Office said: “As ever when looking over a whole season, the statistics mask some big variations between each month.

“June and July were both characterised by drier and warmer than average conditions across the UK which meant the summer was already one of the best we’ve seen in recent years.

“Taken together, this has led to the fairly average final statistics for summer.”

The Government’s official weather forecasters said the final days of August may change the figures slightly.