England and Wales suffer driest July on record in summer of extreme weather

England and Wales have had their driest July in records dating back to 1836, provisional statistics from the Met Office show.And southern England has experienced its driest month, as more records tumble amid a summer of extreme weather that has seen multiple heatwaves and the whole of Wales and half of England plunged into drought.Some 19 counties across England recorded effectively no rainfall – 1mm or less – across the whole of the month, the Met Office figures show.Southern England also had its hottest July on record, while it was the joint hottest July on record for Wales, and the UK and England had their second hottest July, the provisional figures show.And in an exceptionally sunny month, the UK, England and Wales have all recorded their sunniest Julys on record – and for England and Wales it was the sunniest calendar month ever observed, the Met Office said.