A sun-drenched July and higher sea temperatures gave locals and tourists plenty of time to soak up the sun and enjoy the beaches, the Meteorological Office said in a statement.  With a marginally lower cloud cover - 0.8 oktas - and 370.8 hours of sunshine recorded, last month was brighter than expected.

July started off with a combination of 0.4mm of rainfall and over 11 hours of sunshine measured on the first day.

Twenty-one days in July registered air temperatures that exceeded the climate norm of 31.6°C; with a peak of 34.6°C reached on the first weekend. This came nowhere near breaking the highest temperature on record for July, which was experienced in 1988 when the mercury shot up to 42.7°C. 

To the delight of swimmers who normally delay taking the plunge, the mean sea temperature was 0.2°C higher than expected for this time of the year. The sea was particularly warm on Saturday July 15th when the temperature spiked at 27.2°C.

Unfortunately, the warm seas could not be fully enjoyed as Force 8 (34 knots) gusts persisted throughout the weekend, at one point reaching a maximum speed of 39 knots. Generally speaking, July was windier than usual, with the mean wind speed measuring 0.4 knots more than the climate norm of 6.8 knots.