The country smashed its all-time temperature record in July, when the mercury topped 40 degrees Celsius for the first time ever.
Across the entire UK — which also includes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — it was provisionally the fourth warmest summer.
(AP)
England has experienced its joint hottest summer on record this year, tied with 2018, the country's meteorological agency has said, based on its provisional mean temperature statistics.
"This means that four of the five warmest summers on record for England have occurred since 2003, as the effects of human-induced climate change are felt on England's summer temperatures," the Met Office, whose records date back to 1884, said on Thursday.
Like much of northwest Europe, large swathes of England have been in drought for weeks after exceptionally high temperatures and several heatwaves alongside minimal rainfall.
The country smashed its all-time temperature record in July, when the mercury topped 40 degrees Celsius for the first time ever.
Meanwhile, the Met Office said last month that the period from January to June this year saw the least rainfall in England and Wales since 1976.
In its latest release detailing the three-month summer period from June, it said England's mean temperature of 17.1 degrees Celsius was the joint warmest ever recorded, equalling the summer of four years ago.
The warmest and driest areas relative to average were in the east, with East Anglia and parts of northeast England seeing their hottest summer on record.
READ MORE: UK forecasts record temperatures, sounds first extreme heat alert
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT_og-OCdXw[/embed]
Across the entire UK — which also includes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — it was provisionally the fourth warmest summer.
The top UK summers were all very close in temperature, with the two hottest ever averaging 15.8 degrees and the two second hottest 15.7 degrees.
"For many this summer's record-breaking heat in July... will be the season's most memorable aspect," Mark McCarthy of the National Climate Information Centre, said in a statement.
"However, for England to achieve its joint warmest summer takes more than extreme heat over a couple of days, so we shouldn't forget that we experienced some persistently warm and hot spells through June and August too."
READ MORE:'We do expect it to worsen': Fresh heatwave grips Western Europe
Source: AFP
Islamabad Police personnel standing outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. — AFP/File
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday rejected India's purported closure of a "highly irresponsible incident" during which a supersonic missile was fired into Pakistan's territory this year on March 9.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan has reiterated demand for a joint probe.
"We have seen India’s announcement of the findings of an internal Court of Inquiry regarding the incident of firing of a rogue supersonic missile into Pakistani territory on 9 March, and the decision to terminate the services of three Indian Air Force (IAF) officers reportedly found responsible for the reckless incident," statement by the FO read.
FO further stated that the measures taken by India in the aftermath of the incident, in addition to the subsequent findings and punishments handed by the "so-called internal Court of Inquiry" are totally "unsatisfactory, deficient and inadequate".
The ministry's statement added that India has not only failed to respond to Pakistan's demand for a joint inquiry, but has also evaded the questions raised by Pakistan regarding its command and control system, safety and security protocols, and the reason for India’s delayed admission of the Missile launch.
"Systemic loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in handling of strategic weapons cannot be covered up beneath the veneer of individual human error," the statement read, demanding India for a joint probe in the spirit of transparency — particularly if it has "nothing to hide".
The FO asserted that the imprudent Indian action of March 9, jeopardized regional peace and security, and that Pakistan’s demonstration of exemplary restraint is a testament of the country's systemic maturity and abiding commitment to peace as a responsible nuclear state.
"Pakistan reiterates its demand that the Indian Government must immediately provide specific responses to the queries raised by Pakistan after the incident and accedes to its call for a joint probe," the statement read.
