After two wash-outs in 2007/8, the Met office has put its reputation on the line by suggesting that summer 2009 will be a temperature busting one – reaching 30c.

This is well above average and combined with their prediction of low rainfall with a number of small heatwaves, it is looking good for gardeners – especially in the South.

Dubbing it a “barbecue summer”, the Met Office predict it could be just the beginning of a series of much nicer summers to come with rainfall much lower than the normal nine inches for the season.

Summer forecast 2009

30 April 2009

The coming summer is ‘odds on for a barbecue summer’, according to long-range forecasts. Summer temperatures across the UK are likely to be warmer than average and rainfall near or below average for the three months of summer.

Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, Ewen McCallum, said: “After two disappointingly-wet summers, the signs are much more promising this year. We can expect times when temperatures will be above 30 °C, something we hardly saw at all last year.”

Although the forecast is for a drier and warmer summer than average, it does not rule out the chances of seeing some heavy downpours at times. However, a repeat of the wet summers of 2007 and 2008 is unlikely.

Government Services Director, Rob Varley, said: “Our long-range forecasts are proving useful to a range of people, such as emergency planners and the water industry, in order to help them plan ahead. They are not forecasts which can be used to plan a summer holiday or inform an outdoor event.”

Summer forecast 2009

Let’s hope they get it right this time –  not easy being a weather forcaster as climate change takes hold.Take a look at this video which sums up the unpredictability of our UK weather –

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090501/video/vuk-forecasters-predict-summer-scorcher-49bfa63.html