Ben Lowry: Hints of darkness and chilly autumn weather make August a less pleasant summer month in Northern Ireland than July

Ben Lowry main column: NI has big political problems but America's might be worse

​This is not just perception but statistical fact: for example last month being the wettest July ever. Weeks ago I wrote about how I still like summers in NI (click here for the article), and how last month confirmed that because even the worst was enjoyable and preferable to the suffocating heat across Europe. Incidentally I have found it scary to see hottest temperature records not merely broken in many countries in recent years, but smashed: smashed in England, in France, in Canada. When I was a kid the Guinness Book of Records was the place to go for extreme statistics such as weather and such records tended to be broken rarely, say once a century, and if so then by a fraction of point.

If this continues, then these islands, Britain and Ireland, will be increasingly desirable places to live (albeit the extreme changeability of this summer’s weather – June was our warmest ever – even more than our already changeable norm, is not ideal). But while I find summer a pleasant time to be in NI, August is far less agreeable than July. There is usually a chilly flavour of autumn, and the days get rapidly shorter. The month begins with days almost as long as in June, and ends a mere three weeks before the equinox, after which there is more darkness than light.

Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter editor