JULY was Warrington's hottest ever month, said the Met Office.

The heat wave beat the previous record by more than half a degree.

August will be warm, but not near the record-beating levels of last month.

The average July temperature over night and day was 19.3 Celsius - the previous highest was 18.7 in both July 1983 and August 1995.

July also had 290 hours of sunlight - that compares to a figure approaching 350 for the Costa del Sol.

The Met Office holds comprehensive information going back to 1914 and some records going back to 1649.

Comparing the records also shows what a dry month July was. There was only 17mm of rain, less than a third of the average.

However, that is some way behind the record - June 1925 had just 1.8mm of rain.

A Met Office spokesman, looking ahead to August, said: "I think it's going to be more heat. On the whole, I think it's continuing to have high temperatures but certainly not anywhere near the record levels of July. I don't think there's any indication it's going to be extremely hot."

England as a whole experienced its hottest month on record with a mean temperature of 19.3 Celsius.

It was also the sunniest month on record with 300.1 hours.

Germany and Denmark also recorded their hottest ever July and the Met Office is analysing the data to assess the risk of future hot summers as a result of climate change.