We don't need them in August, but rose-tint specs are all the rage

IT MAY seem as though in recent years August has never brought the bright, sunny days we remember from childhood.

Instead of day trips to the beach, ice-cream and sun bathing, we suffer day after day of relentless, driving rain.

However, weather forecasters have insisted this is most likely because we look at the past through rose-tinted spectacles, rather than due to any recent trend towards more rainy summers.

With more rain falling in parts of Scotland over the past two days than for the whole of an average August, it looks as though this month could be set to break records for rainfall.

However, Dan Williams, from the Met Office, pointed out that last year, August may also have seemed rainy but actually it experienced below average levels.

Throughout August 2010, 102.7mm of rain fell in Scotland, less than the average 107.5mm for this time of year.

Mr Williams said: "Maybe we see the summer through rose-tinted glasses. We remember it as being hot, sunny and dry, whereas in an average year we do see quite a bit of rain even in June, July and August.

"It's similar to the idea that we always seem to remember Christmases being white when we were children."

However, 2009 experienced the third-wettest August on record, with 202mm and August 2008 was also in the top 20.

The wettest August since records began in 1910 was 1985, when 216.5mm fell.

Environmental groups think the number of record-breaking weather events in recent years points to a trend towards more extreme conditions, from drought to floods.

Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, thinks weather has become less predictable over recent years, which is a symptom of climate change.

"Floods we would only expect in winter are now happening in the summer too, yet in April we were worrying about low reservoirs and possible drought," he said.

"The weather stats illustrate very well how a warming world is also a more uncertain one, with more energy in the weather system it becomes less predictable.

"This is just a foretaste of the climate chaos that could come if the world does not get serious about reducing climate emissions."

In June, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency published its national flood risk assessment.

It was the first time a picture of likely flooding impacts across Scotland has been drawn up.

It considered which areas of the country are most vulnerable and identified that in Scotland one in 20 homes and one in 14 businesses are at risk.

The report is out for consultation until Monday.