EARLY hopes of an Indian summer have been raised as forecasters predicted a week of warm weather to usher in the start of September.

Temperatures are set to reach 25C buoyed by high pressure from the jet stream of ex-Hurricane Cristobal as it tracks north-east across the Atlantic.

MORE TOP STORIES:

This will bring sunshine and settled weather, which the Met Office said would gradually improve.

The prediction comes as Lancashire Telegraph weather expert Roy Chetham revealed that August was the wettest since 2008 in East Lancashire.

Using statistics from his weather station in Huncoat, he said that the region had 19 ‘wet days’ last month, with more than 1mm of rain per day.

The findings also revealed that temperatures were well below normal, making August the coolest since 1993.

The wettest and windiest day was August 10 as the region was rocked by the after-effects of ex-hurricane Bertha.

Despite the cool temperatures, with the mercury plummeting to 7.6C on Tuesday, August 19, and the wet weather, last month was the sunniest August since 2010.

There were 144 hours of sunshine and only five days without direct sunlight.

Roy said: “Breaking ranks with an otherwise good summer August was disappointing.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting and most people thought the weather would be normal.

“Everybody hoped that the good summer would carry on but that didn’t happen.

“The ex-hurricane changed everything and knocked the weather cycle out a bit and it never recovered for the rest of the month.

“Overall I think most people would rate this summer highly as there has been a lot of sunshine and many usable days.

“I would expect the start of this month to be fairly dry and warm but for the weather to gradually deteriorate as normal through the month.”

Over the month, 147.3mm of rain fell in East Lancashire, with 26.2mm falling on the wettest day, Sunday, August 10.