The winners and losers of UK’s coolest summer in a decade

False widow spiders thrive from a wet summer (Picture: Kazam Media/REX/Shutterstock)

The summer has been the coolest in almost a decade – bad news for holidaymakers and some animal species while one spider has come out on top.

While parts of the UK saw spells of scorching summer weather, the mean average temperature was the lowest since 2015, the Met Office revealed.

As we said goodbye to the summer, wet weather is on its way, sparking the Met Office to issue a yellow weather warning for rain from tonight until tomorrow morning, with up to 50mm of rainfall expected in the worst affected areas.

The yellow weather warning for heavy showers and possible thunder was issued for London, South East, East of England, South West, East and West Midlands and south Wales.

The Met Office yellow weather warning (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

It means travel on roads and rail could be disrupted if spray and sudden flooding hit, while homes and businesses in flood-prone areas could also be affected.

The mean temperature this summer was 0.22°C  below the meteorological average in the UK.

Roads could see spray and sudden flooding due to heavy rain (Picture: Danny Lawson/PA)

Species struggling in cooler summer

Despite short-lived heatwaves and bursts of hot weather, conditions across the three summer moths were ‘pretty unsettled,’ Emily Carlisle, a Met Office scientist, said.

This could be good news for species like false widow spiders infamous for their ‘wasp sting’ bite as wet conditions are an ideal breeding ground for the infamous creepy crawler.

It has made headlines after reports of painful and – in some cases – dangerously infected bites linked to false widows.

However, other species like bats, butterflies and barn owls could be in trouble.

Sara Booth-Card, Action for Insects campaigner at The Wildlife Trust, told Metro.co.uk: ‘The past year has seen multiple temperature records broken, resulting in variable and unseasonal weather.

False widow spiders don’t bite unless they are roughly handled, the Wildlife Trust warned (Picture: Stephen Roberts/Getty Images)

‘This included a very wet winter and spring, followed by a cool summer – again with high rainfall. Wildlife including bats, butterflies, and barn owls can all struggle in these conditions.

‘Less insects cannot be attributed to one year of unseasonal weather alone. Research shows that habitat loss and the use of pesticides have caused huge declines over the past 50 years.

‘This is bad news for both insects and species that eat insects, like bats and birds. We’ve had reports of low bat numbers this year, as well as an increase in hungry bats being taken in by rescue centres.’

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