It’s been a blisteringly hot year. Spring was the warmest since records began in 1884 according to the Met Office, with the mean temperature 1.4°C higher than the UK long-term average. It was the sunniest: with 653.3 hours of sunshine – 43% above average. And it is punishingly dry: the driest in more than a century in England. June continued the trend – England registered its warmest on record. July has also been unusually warm and sunny. And another heatwave is forecast for August.

But this is the new normal. Indeed it’s only going to get hotter, for longer.