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The summer of 2022 will be one to remember, with the UK experiencing soaring temperatures and incredibly dry weather conditions over the last few months.

For England, this summer was the joint hottest on record, the Met Office has said.

Figures show the summer of 2022, which covers the months June, July and August, had an average temperature of 17.1C - tying with 2018.

The statistics are provisional, which means they may change once they've been checked over and confirmed.

The latest figures also mean four of the five warmest summers on record for England have taken place since 2003. The Met Office said shows how the effects of climate change are affecting the country's temperatures.

This year's sweltering summer included the record-breaking heatwave in July, which saw temperatures climb above 40C for the first time in the UK.

It also led to the government declared eight areas of southern, central and eastern England in drought, with hosepipe introduced in many other areas.

"For many, this summer's record-breaking heat in July - where temperatures reached 40.3C at Coningsby in Lincolnshire - will be the season's most memorable aspect," said Dr Mark McCarthy from the National Climate Information Centre.

"However, for England to achieve its joint warmest summer takes more than extreme heat over a couple of days, so we shouldn't forget that we experienced some persistently warm and hot spells through June and August too."

For East Anglia, where temperatures averaged 18.3C, and parts of North East England, it was the hottest summer on record.

Some areas have seen less than half of their typical rainfall for the season.

For the whole of the UK, 2022 has been the fourth hottest summer on record. It was also the eighth warmest summer for both Scotland and Wales and the 12th warmest for Northern Ireland.

Every month this year has also been warmer than average so far when comparing temperatures to records dating all the way back to 1884.

"The average temperature for January to August for the UK in 2022 has been 10.51C, making this year so far warmer than the previous record of 10.2C in 2014," Dr McCarthy said.

"It is too early to speculate on how the year overall will finish, but the persistent warm conditions are certainly notable and have certainly been made more likely by climate change."

Although there has been some rain in the past few weeks, the UK received only 54% of average rainfall in August.

England saw just 35% of its normal rain for the month, which adds August to the list of dry months in 2022, with

The Met Office figures also show the year so far has been the driest since the drought summer of 1976 for both the UK and England.