Summer is officially just over a week away, but you may have to wait a bit longer to fire up the barbecue.
Brits have been battered with cold wind and rain so far in June, with temperatures around three to five degrees below average for this time of year.
The Met Office has revealed that temperatures are half what they were a year ago, which marked the hottest June on record.
It says temperatures are lower than normal due to a ‘keen northerly wind’ which is drawing cold air from the Arctic southwards over the UK.
Conditions will only get warmer towards the end of the month – but not before frost potentially covers the ground.
Met Office has revealed that current temperatures (pictured June 11) are around half what they were a year ago
This time last year, parts of the UK including London, Cambridge and Belfast were experiencing temperatures close to, or even above 30°C (86°F).
But now, the same regions are just half of this – around the 15°C (60°F) mark, as the Met Office reflects ‘what a difference 12 months makes’.
Alex Deakin, meteorologist and weather forecaster for the Met Office, blamed the jet stream – a fast moving strip of air around five to seven miles above the Earth’s surface.
The jet stream is driving cold wind southwards from the Arctic to the UK, which means ‘it does feel chilly’ despite the ‘reasonably powerful June sunshine’.
‘When the air is coming down from the north there’s no surprise that there’s a bit of a chill in the air,’ Deakin said.
‘You’ve probably noticed that over the past couple of days it has been a fairly fresh feeling, despite some decent spells of sunshine.’
Rebekah Sherwin, deputy chief meteorologist at Met Office, said there is ‘no strong signal’ for temperatures to get above average anytime soon.
‘So far during the month we have been in a weather pattern that has brought a northerly air flow to the UK, with high pressure to the west and low pressure over Scandinavia funnelling that flow,’ she said.
The last time the first 10 days of June was this cold was in 2020, she added.
A drizzly June: Pictured, punters endure rain at the Royal Windsor Racecourse in Berkshire, June 11, 2024
Taylor Swift fans brave the cold, wind and rain as they queue for her show at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, June 7, 2024
Stark contrast: June 2023 was the hottest June on record, the Met Office confirmed. Pictured, Brighton Beach on June 25, 2023
Simon Partridge, meteorologist at the Met Office, told the Times that we’re even expecting ‘a little bit of frost’ in a few places over the next couple of nights.
‘This will mainly be across Scotland and possibly into northern England and Northern Ireland, where temperatures could get down to around freezing,’ he said.
Temperatures will stay near or slightly below average for the majority of the rest of June, he added – but ‘it’s not that unusual’ due to the variability of UK weather.
It marks a stark contrast from this time last year when Brits basked in warm weather during what was the hottest June on record for the UK.
On June 11, 2023, the maximum temperature in London was 32°C (89.6°F), but exactly a year later it hit just 16°C (60.8°F).
Pictured, wet conditions between the village of Eton Wick and Slough next to Roundmoor Ditch in Berkshire, June 9, 2024
Similarly, Cambridge hit highs of 30.3°C (86.5°F) one June 11 last year but just 15°C (59°F) on Tuesday.
Tonight, it will be chilly in rural spots and could even be ‘an isolated grass frost’, Met Office says.
And for the rest of the week, it forecasts outbreaks of rain pushing northeastwards across the UK, as well as brisk winds in the southwest.
‘The UK forecast from tomorrow shows a weather front coming in from the west, reaching all parts of the UK during the day,’ said Sherwin.
‘This will be accompanied by windy conditions, particularly around western and southwestern coasts.
‘There is a signal for temperatures to come up to near normal levels through the weekend, but the forecast into next week remains largely unsettled with showers, some heavy, in places.’
In the second half of the month, scattered showers will likely dominate and could turn into heavy rain in places, with temperatures ‘close to or slightly below average’.
In early July, it’s unclear if any one type of weather pattern will dominate, but the Met Office hopefully hints at ‘spells of drier, sunnier weather’.
BBC Weather’s monthly outlook says there should be a trend towards ‘calmer and even summery conditions’ after mid-June, but ‘other solutions are also possible’.
The Met Office says that the UK had its warmest May and warmest spring on record, despite being ‘wet and dull’. Members of the public enjoy the hot weather at a pool in Hathersage, Derbyshire, England, on May 10, 2024
May 2024 marked the 12th consecutive record-breaking month, with every month since June 2023 being the hottest ever recorded
It follows confirmation from the Met Office that the UK had its warmest May and warmest spring on record, despite being ‘wet and dull’.
The Met Office blamed climate change for these record-breaking figures but also cautioned that natural variation plays a part in the country’s weather.
Looking at the global picture, last month was the hottest May on record going back to 1940, the EU’s climate change programme revealed last week.
The global average temperature for May 2024 was 15.91°C (60.6°F), which is 0.19°C (0.34°F) above the temperature of the previous warmest May, in 2020.
Globally, May 2024 also marks the 12th consecutive record-breaking month, with every month since June 2023 being the hottest ever recorded.
