weather wise

SUMMER is here! Or so it would seem from the joyful reports of the hottest day of the year in London over the weekend. On Sunday, a temperature of 22C was registered in London, while on Saturday, locations in both Norfolk and south London reached 25C.

But really it's nothing to get excited about. Weather reporters, like most other reporters, love superlatives. Of course it was the hottest day of the year. Every day has a fair chance of being the hottest of the year until you get to the middle of August. And with a particularly cold April (the wettest April this century, superlativemongers tell us) - an April that was colder than March for only the fifth time this century - any sunny day in early May is likely to be the warmest of the year.

As warm May days go, the present weather is nothing special. The warmest May day recorded in Kew saw a temperature of 30.6C, and even the average warmest-day-in-May temperature is 24.3C. And if you really want a warm May day in London, you have only to go back to Regent's Park in 1944 for a temperature of 32.8C.

With the slightly unusual combination of warm southerly air from Africa, a dry, easterly wind from the continent, and an area of high pressure over the country, the South-east is enjoying a pleasant spell of warm weather. That's all. No need for superlatives. Summer isn't here yet. Just a few days' nice weather. Don't put your umbrellas away.