These superb MODIS satellite images from Nasa show how the bulk of England turned from a vibrant green in June to a parched brown a month later, as the weeks-long heatwave reached its peak.
At the beginning of September the South and North Downs are once again turning green but, after the driest summer for 15 years in many places, the landscape still has a long way to go.
The results are in and statistics show that this summer was the second hottest in a local record going back to 1797. The mean temperature of 19.57C was 2.4C warmer than average, just six hundredths of a degree cooler than the summer of 2003.
A sustained period of heat that continued the theme of the hot late spring was enough to see a new entry into the hottest-ever list of heatwaves. But the hottest weather was over by the end of July, August being very disappointing compared with the first two months of summer.
It was also the driest summer for 15 years. Just 87mm were recorded, that’s 60 per cent of average and just 7mm wetter than the historic summer of 2003, the year the UK’s highest temperature record was set.
It was the sunniest summer for 5 years: 663 hours of sunshine were recorded, over 100 hours less than 1976, the 24th sunniest summer since 1881.
Hottest day: 34.7C (26/7)
Coolest day: 17C (9/8)
Warmest night: 19.7C (26/7)
Coolest night: 6.4C (12/6)
Wettest day: 13.9mm (16/8)
Summary for period 01/06/2018 to 31/08/2018
Wanstead Meteo 
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