MOST of us escaped a drenching over the weekend - despite the Met Office warning of heavy showers and thunderstorms over the eastern region.

MOST of us escaped a drenching over the weekend - despite the Met Office warning of heavy showers and thunderstorms over the eastern region.

Forecasters predicted that storms travelling here from France would complete one of the wettest Augusts on record but Suffolk stayed mainly dry with temperatures rising to around 27C in the region.

The weekend was warm and dry with sunshine in most areas of the country except parts of the north-west.

Storms that did hit the UK were caused by warm, humid air coming in from the continent that clashed with cooler Atlantic air.

According to meteorologists, today is officially the first day of autumn, marking the end of a lacklustre summer in which we saw less than 100 hours of sunshine during the first 26 days of August.

The UK has been hit by a total of 12-and-a-half inches of rain this summer - more than twice as much as normal - and the Met Office doesn't predict any great improvement to the weather during September.

Temperatures will be around the 16C mark although rainfall is forecast to be below average.

The forecast for the week is generally unsettled. Cloud is expected to increase with outbreaks of rain.

It will remain cloudy with further outbreaks of rain overnight and moderate to fresh south to southwest winds.

Sporadic showers will continue into tomorrow, with heavier rain predicted for Friday and the unsettled weather is likely to last into next week.

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