It was the hottest July in 15 years, figures from the Met Office have revealed.

The heatwave at the end of the month, which led to some of the hottest July temperatures on record, boosted the average temperature of the period.

Although the island normally has warmer temperatures during early summer, July reached more than 20 degrees consistently.

Thursday, July 22 was the peak of the heatwave, with the highest recorded temperature at Ronaldsway being 26.7 degrees.

It was the hottest day of 2021 so far and the hottest July day since 2006.

Last month had an average temperature of 16.9 degrees which equals the record set in 2006.

There was 20% more sunshine last month with the island getting almost 240.9 hours of bright sunshine over the course of the month, making it the sunniest July since 2014.

Over the course of the month there were 16 days when the maximum temperature was above 20 degrees.

During the month there were 21 completely dry days and the total rainfall measured was 30.4mm which is below average for July.

The majority of the rainfall occurred during the thunderstorms on the 27th and 28th.

Lightning strikes from these storms caused damage to homes in the south of the island.

July was not as windy as it has been in the past with wind speeds averaging at 7.4mph.

The only July that recorded less than that was in 1972 when the average was 7.3mph.

Fog was observed on three days early in the month.

David Britton, meteorological forecaster, said: ’Most climate models in the next few years will show trends of temperatures increasing.

’There has been a trend in temperatures gradually rising during the last 20 years.’