NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
September has roared in with blazing temperatures – just when we thought we’d waved goodbye to a very hit and miss summer, with a hot June, one of the wettest July’s on record, and a decidedly mixed August.
Yes, just as the summer holidays come to an end and kids return to school, the mercury is topping 30°C across the country – with the hottest day of the year so far occurring on Thursday.
We’re used to more autumnal temperatures as we reach this part of the year, but it’s not unheard of for September to be this warm.
There’s even a name for it: Indian summer – but what is that exactly?
And where does the phrase come from?
An Indian summer is the name given to unseasonably warm weather in autumn.
Indian summers have become increasingly common over recent years, with a few recent Septembers seeing Britain enjoy a blast of hot weather. 2021 brought hot temperatures as did 2020.
The UK experienced Indian summers in both 2019 and 2018, as it continued to stay warm during the month.
We also had one in Britain in 2017, with temperatures hitting 24C in September and 21C in October.
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According to the Met Office, the phrase is believed to have originated among Native Americans in the 18th century.
Some historians believe that it originally referred to warm autumnal conditions that allowed them to continue hunting.
The phrase’s first written use has been traced back to 1778, when Frenchman John de Crevecouer wrote: ‘Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warm which is called the Indian summer.’
By the time ‘Indian summer’ made its way to the UK in the early 19th century, Brits already had a phrase for warm weather later in the year – ‘Saint Martin’s summer’.
However, over time ‘Indian summer’ usurped it and gained widespread usage.
High temperatures later in the year are not particularly unusual – the October record is 29.9C in Gravesend, Kent on October 1 2011.
The highest temperature ever recorded in November came in Trawsgoed, Wales, in 2015 – when the mercury topped 22.3C (72.1F).
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According to the Met Office, the hot spell is likely to last until at least this weekend – after which time a cold front from the north-west, which is likely to bring heavy rain, is set to travel south.
This will see temperatures drop with the Met Office suggesting that there is ‘a risk of thunderstorms’ with temperatures returning to near normal – although they could remain above average in the south and south-east.
However, the outlook for the second half of September is promising, with suggestions that continued high pressure could bring us more above average temperatures.
There’s ‘a higher likelihood of some unseasonably warm spells than would normally be expected.
So, don’t put the summer clothes away just yet, folks…
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