Once June rolls around, we normally start to get excited about the long summer days that are finally upon us. Unfortunately for the UK however, this hasn’t exactly materialised and we have instead been bombarded with heavy rainfall and dramatic thunderstorms.

It has been such a rainy start to the summer that halfway through the month, the Met Office announced that this could be the wettest June the UK has ever experienced. After consistent rainfall, even the bookies stopped taking bets about the Met Office’s prediction because they had to slash the odds so many times.

Alex Donohue from Ladbrokes commented:

“After the rain on Her Majesty’s parade, the odds of this June being a record washout got so low that we stopped taking bets. As far as our weather odds experts are concerned, June 2016 will go into the record books but for the wrong reasons.”

The characteristically wet weather has already had an effect on a number of events including Glastonbury, Royal Ascot, street parties being held for the Queen’s 90^th birthday and now Wimbledon. So far, the worst affected areas of Great Britain have been Yorkshire, the North West, the East, the Midlands and Wales.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, once again, the heavy rainfall has also caused severe flooding across parts of the country which has prompted more calls to the government to increase flood defences.

Earlier in the month, flash floods also hit South London which caused streets to be turned into waterways and cars to become submerged. Firefighters were also called to Croydon, Mitcham and Wallington after thunderstorms bought more heavy rain that the drainage systems simply couldn’t cope with.

The UK is no stranger to weather phenomenon’s and has experienced its fair share of highs and lows over the years. Below are some examples of the most extreme weather the country has witnessed over the last few years:

• The hottest July day since records began – on the 1^st of July 2015, a record 36.7 degrees Celsius was measured at London Heathrow Airport.
• Trawsgoed in Wales experienced the hottest November day on the 1^st of November 2015 as temperatures reached a whopping 22.4 degrees Celsius.
• If you’re hoping that the weather will perk up now that July is upon us, it’s best not to get your hopes up. On the 19^th of July last year, parts of Scotland were subjected to the coldest July day in 21 years after temperatures plummeted to just 1 degree Celsius.
• 2014 certainly was a year of extremes for the British weather. With 435mm of precipitation, we experienced the wettest winter since records began and it was also the stormiest winter in more than 20 years after a total of 12 major winter storms were recorded. On the bright side however, it was also the hottest year ever with a mean temperature of 9.9 degrees Celsius.
• It is very much hoped that we don’t experience the same summer that we did back in 2012. It was the wettest summer the UK experienced in more than a century and overall, the second-wettest year on record with a whopping 1,330mm of average rainfall.

One good thing however with all this rainfall is that it is great for the environment and with more eco-friendly house systems now available and larger rainwater storage tanks on the market it is a great time to harvest this natural water source.