HAMPSHIRE endured the wettest end to a summer for half a century, the Met Office has said.

The South Coast had up to three times the average rainfall for August.

The agency says the figures for the county, Dorset and Guernsey were the wettest the regions had experienced in 50 years.

Chief scientist, Professor Dame Julia Slingo said: ''No-one can deny that we have had a pretty disappointing summer with a lot of unsettled weather and only a few warm spells, especially through July and August.

''Our weather has been dominated by low pressure over and to the west of the country that has brought us periods of heavy rain from the south - what we call the Spanish Plume.''

She said early predictions that temperatures and rainfall would be near normal were proved wrong.

''As the season progressed all the leading models around the world failed to capture the signal for unsettled weather over the UK.

''We all know that forecasting months and seasons ahead is still in its infancy and much more research needs to be done.''

It is hoped the use of a new £97 million supercomputer, the first phase of which went live this week, will allow more accurate weather forecasts in future, she added.