The Met Office  said today that the record-breaking summer heat showed no signs of cooling off in July, with the mercury hitting 39.6°C on the 9th of July.

The mean sea temperature was also over one degree warmer than the climate norm, standing at 26.4°C.

It noted that the average temperatures recorded on 22 out of a total of 31 days last month exceeded the climate norm of 26.6°C.

The 5th and the 20th of July, on the other hand, proved to be a breath of fresh air to the islands, when temperatures dropped to a minimum of 21°C.

A warmer-than-average July brought with it above-average hours of sunshine. 368.3 hours of bright sunshine were recorded throughout the month, surpassing the climate norm by 4.2 hours.

July registered a mean of 11.9 hours of sunshine daily, with the brightest day being the 4th of July when a total of 13.1 hours of sunshine were recorded, the Met Office said.

However, July was not as dry as expected, with 0.8mm of precipitation being recorded throughout the month by the Met Office. July was also slightly windier than expected, exceeding the climate norm of 6.8 knots by 0.6 knots.

Photograph by Alain Salvary

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