This year’s temperatures have been notable for one thing — they have been largely average. After years of new records broken with dizzying frequency, it seems almost abnormal to return to a normal climate again.

However, last month was slightly cooler than average across the UK, when most areas had their coldest October for five years. It was also wetter than usual in all regions. This is hardly sensational news, though, except for one curious piece of weather information — October was sunnier than August.

Normally the summer would be expected to be the sunniest time of year. After all, the longest daylight of the year usually falls on June 21, the summer solstice. And we live in hope that summer is the season when the clouds might be expected to part long enough to let some of that sunshine through.

But something strange happened this year. It was so cloudy in August that the UK only had an average 105 hours of sunshine, compared with 111 hours for October. And September’s sunshine total also beat August as well. As if that was not crazy enough, even February was sunnier than August, at least in England.

The seasons seem to have been turned upside down, which goes to show what an abysmal summer we had this year. The barrages of depressions that rolled off the Atlantic produced not only downpours but also blotted out the sun with infernal clouds. We sorely missed the Azores anti-cyclone that usually delivers warm summer sunshine.

And to add to the unreality of it all, October also beat the sunshine total for September, which was also fairly gloomy. All told, this has been a very confusing year for weather, but perhaps the normal seasons will return next year.