Forecasters say it's impossible to predict British weather

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We had a hot and sunny April followed by a wet and windy summer.

And now forecasters say that it's impossible to forecast the bizarre patterns of rain, wind and blazing sunshine that we've endured over the last few weeks because the UK is one of the most unpredictable places on Earth when it comes to the weather.

The Met Office withdrew its seasonal forecasts in 2009, after the promised baking summers failed to materialise. But now they say that there are good reasons why they often get it so wrong.

Helen Chivers, a forecaster at the Met Office says: 'We are a small island, in a temperate climate, at high latitude with one of the world's biggest oceans on one side of us, and a huge continent on the other.

'The combination makes it very difficult to predict the weather here. We can do it in the short term but not over long periods unlike other parts of the world. For example, in the United States the weather is far easier to forecast because the country forms part of a very large landmass.'

Alan Thorpe, director of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts agrees. He says: 'In some parts of the tropics, you can forecast weather up to four weeks away, but in the UK. The best you can hope for is about five days to a week.'

Despite this, forecasters say that it looks as if the weather will be better in September.

If you're planning a September holiday, click on the image below to find out the best places to go...

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