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AN UTTER SHOWER: Braving the weather on Bournemouth Beach this summer

According to new research, temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have been warmer in the past decade than at any time in the past 1,300 years.

Well, we can only assume that the researchers didn't spend too much time in Bournemouth this summer, especially last month.

Dr Michael Mann, of Penn State Earth System Science Centre, said: "The researchers used an expanded database and more sophisticated methods, such as "natural climate archives", like corals, sediment and ice core samples to gain a reliable record going back to 700AD."

He continued: "Conclusions were less definitive for the Southern Hemisphere and for the globe as a whole, because there was sparser data available for the south."

It can only be assumed that it has been blooming hot in France, Germany, Italy etc over the last month or so because the UK would certainly appear to be an anomaly to the researcher's findings.

Bournemouth especially has seen one of the wettest and windiest Augusts in memory and glimpses of sunshine have been very few and far between.

While the excessive wind has seen the beach transformed into a windsurfers paradise, for many others, coupled with the rain, it has led to a disappointing summer on the south coast.

Fishermen have reported difficult conditions out at sea and have had to battle the elements to get their catch. Dorset cricket players have been upset by the weather, as well, seeing an unprecedented amount of matches being called off due to the bad weather, and beach-goers and holiday makers venturing to the south for the sunshine have been left disappointed.

Summer festival-goers, who are no stranger to the mud, had the wellies out in force as they trudged through the swamp-like festival sites and fought to keep their tents at one with the ground.

Fortunately enough, arguably the town's biggest summer attraction, the More Bus Bournemouth Air Festival, had a reasonable four days of weather last week and the sun did break through as the Red Arrows lit up the sky to give spectators a scorching Saturday.

So what is to blame for this downturn in our summer weather?

Well, apparently we can lay the blame at the feet of a thing called the jet stream' and the home of Paddington Bear, Peru, is thought to be at fault, as well.

How exactly a South American country and something that sounds like a fast flowing river are at fault for Britain's wind and rain, BBC broadcast meteorologist, Daniel Corbett explains.

He said: "The weather across the UK has been far from typical this summer. A broad band of low pressure had been sitting across the UK, pushing the jet stream - a ribbon of fast moving air in the upper atmosphere - further south than usual, keeping high pressure and settled weather away from the UK."

The jet stream is most famous for making flights from the America to the UK quicker than the flights back, often giving pilots a 100 miles per hour tail wind on their way to the UK.

"In a normal summer the jet stream is to the north of the UK. This allows the Azores high to build across the UK and bring settled and more typical summer weather for the UK," said Mr Corbett.

So why has the jet stream shifted southwards, heaping rain and wind onto Bournemouth and the UK? Well, believe it or not, scientists believe the root of the problem could be in Peru.

"A natural phenomenon known as La Niña occurs when cool water surges up from the bottom of the Pacific off Peru. The water then cools the air above it, setting off a series of changes in the Earth's atmospheric circulation."

It's these changes that force the jet stream onto the UK, opening the floodgates - excuse the pun - and making Britain a rather wet and windy place to spend a summer, although there is always next year...

7:00pm Tuesday 2nd September 2008

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