In the last few years we have seen some very hot summers. The summer of 2006 was the longest continuous period of hot weather experienced in this country since records began.

A study for the Met Office found that the five months from May to September were warmer than any equivalent summer since 1659.

The 2006 period also included the warmest month ever, July, and provided the country with a record temperature for a September. The figures strongly back the argument that man-made global warming is having a considerable impact on the British Isles.

'We keep getting individual record months for hot weather, like last July's,' said David Parker, of the Met Office. 'It is one thing to get a month with very high temperatures, but to get a record-breaking unbroken stretch for five summer months - that is a dramatic confirmation that we are now experiencing significant levels of global warming.'

The summer of 2007 might not have brought scorching temperatures to the UK, but many people died from heat stroke across other parts of Europe. Since 1991 there have been ten record-breaking summers. And since 1981 there have been twenty! This doesn't mean that each year will get warmer, but it shows that over time the trend is for higher temperatures. 

Myth four - we shouldn't trust scientists, they can't even get the weather forecast right