According to news reports the summer of 2006 in Britain was the hottest and driest on record. How do they work

Question

out what the temperature was,as,on an extreme day the difference in temperature between the south east of England and Shetland can be up to 20 degrees centigrade,and 12 to 15 degrees difference is commonplace-so do they take an average from all over the country or do they,as I suspect, just consider the area around the London Weather Centre as representing the whole of the UK? How,also,can they claim that the summer of 2006 was the driest on record,when in actual fact it was extremely wet and cool in many parts of Scotland? Does anyone know how the figures are worked out?

Answer 1

Just normal You are not going on the Moon or Mars.

Answer 2

I thought that the met office has been keeping records for a great number of years. I was under the impression that there is now automated equipment sending data to them on a regular basis all over the country. I'm also aware of individuals who have rain guages on their property who log details regularly.