The lightning storm at the end of last month was the biggest in 25 years, believes one of Ronaldsway’s meteorological team.

Assistant scientific officer Dave Brown revealed: ’We don’t keep detailed records of the number of lightning flashes etc but June 25’s was pretty spectacular by Isle of Man standards.

’Personally I remember a similar one in July 1995 but there could have been others since.

’On average we observe four thunderstorms a year at Ronaldsway, but most of these are a couple of lightning flashes and then they dissipate.

’The last one observed from Ronaldsway was in March 2019.

’One of the main factors initiating June’s storm was the hot temperatures experienced - 25.6°C at Ronaldsway was the highest since July 2, 2018.’

Looking back at the weather trends for the rest of June, there were only seven completely dry days in the month.

Despite that, a hosepipe ban - introduced on June 5 following the driest spring since 1984 - remains in place.

According to further Met Office figures, rainfall for the month totalled 110.8mm at Ronaldsway, 90% above the June average.

And one fifth of the total - 22mm - fell overnight June 25/26 during the aforementioned thunderstorm that lit up skies across the island.

The afternoon of June 25 saw the temperature soar to 25.6C. It was one of seven days when the temperature exceeded 20C.

The average temperature for the month measured 14.4°C , which was 1.2°C above the long-term mean. Muggy nights were as much a factor as high daytime temperatures.

The Met Office recorded eight days with strong winds (force six or higher) which it said was unusual for June.

This figure is only equalled by June 1981 and 2012.

The strongest winds were recorded on June 28 with a maximum gust of 48mph at the airport.

There were 191 hours of bright sunshine, slightly below the 30-year mean of 200 hours .

The sunniest day was June 1 with an unbroken 15.1 hours.