Our calculation, based on Met Office data, puts the summer CET at 18.5°C which is a huge 0.8°C above the previous record.

That makes it an extraordinary summer by historical standards.

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twodata/cet.aspx 

(The calculation is ours, so any errors are ours and not the Met Office's.)

Despite this I still consindering May being 10/10 out of this than Jun which end up 9/10 after a 0/10 start, 10/10 start in July then drop to 6/10 due to clouds issues.  August started 10/10 dropped quickly to 2/10 due to stinky rain showers and 1 weak thunderstorms.  

I think 1995 still remain the top in term of dryness that lasted full 3 summer months albeit few unsettled spells lasting few days unlike this year first half of June and 2nd half of August went very poor and extremely wet.  2026 will be the top for temperatures only then next sunshine amount.

I think a more valid dryness index would be based on soil moisture. That way you not only take account of the dry days but of this year's baking heat which dried out the top layers of the soil.

That time we didn't have internet and information about dryness levels but from our eyes.  All I know it was very wet winter then suddenly dried out in March and continue to little rain all the way to September which was the wettest month after Jan and Feb then very dry October which became semi parched and it just stay like this to early November.   What we had this year is the dryness occur right on the peak of the summer months lasting 2 months only.  

Beating 76/89/95/2011/2018/2022/2025.

I agree - for the Southern half of England and Wales in particular it's in a league of it's own. 

Truly extraordinary. 

Today it's drizzling, cool and heavily overcast - the first day like this for months. And it feels weird - almost as if I've moved to a different country.

If you live in Scotland or northern england you would  be wondering how this is possible.  But rather like economics, it's London and the SE carrying the rest of the country especially with all those tropical nights we had. 

I think Kevin's index shows 1995 was a much better summer for Manchester. 

I think that's also the thing that makes this summer so fascinating. There really has been a clear divide between North and South of the UK - not that the North has been particularly bad (in terms of heat, rainfall etc) but that the South has been so extraordinarily good.

There's always a difference between the North and South of the UK but this Summer it's really been extreme.

As the saying is, you can have too much of a good thing.

Yes it is so extreme divide compare to normal divide as the south only get average temperatures during NW/SE divide, never a heatwave set up but this year many heatwaves manage to get in during this divide.  None of those dividing thing in the past hot good summers.

How the outcome if there was no divide?  Would the South experience days of 40's while the north in the 30s? 

The summer has been one of a succession of multiple heatwaves.

The main difference between the south and north has been that the weather in gaps between heatwaves has been a little more prnounced and less warm the further north you went.

In parts of the S & SE, the gaps were less noticeable as temps only fell back to 'warm' or 'fairly hot', and any rain was negligible.

It's been a very good summer here, with periods of 1-3 weeks of hot, dry and sunny, but interspersed with anything from a few days to over a week of temps back closer to the norm, increased cloud and sometimes a little rain. 1995 was better as it was more one bloc of warm/hot and sunny and dry lasting a couple of months.