IT’S official: Huddersfield has just suffered its wettest summer on record.

And the town could be in for a further soaking this autumn – with the chance of early snow as well.

Salendine Nook meteorologist Paul Stevens has analysed rainfall figures in Huddersfield for June, July and August.

Yesterday he revealed that the summer was officially the worst in Huddersfield’s history.

“It was the wettest ever recorded,” he said.

“A total of 459mm (18.36 inches) of rainfall fell this year – nearly three times the average of 170mm (6.8 inches).

“At no time in recorded history in this area has so much rain fallen in the summer. Billions of gallons of water have filled our reservoirs, rivers and fields.

“The summer of 1956 came close with 409mm of rain but nothing else comes close going back more than 100 years.

“The driest summer on record was 1976 when just 66mm fell between June and August.”

And there could be more bad news in store.

Mr Stevens believes an exceptionally cold end to the summer suggests a freezing autumn to come.

“On the night of August 30/31 we managed to break one more local record – the coldest August night on record at just 3.2°C,” he said.

“This could be a sign of things to come if the low pressure dips south in Sweden.

“We may well be in for a wet and cold autumn. Watch out for some early snowfalls and perhaps some ground frost.

“Over the next few weeks the weather will certainly remain changeable with spells of warmer weather and cooler conditions.

“Unusually, there have been a number of hurricanes moving into mid-Atlantic and the odd one of these tropical disturbances may well bring some very windy conditions during October and that’s one to watch.”

Mr Stevens added that climate change could be to blame for the huge increase in rainfall this summer.

“Warm low pressure with lots of moisture and heat energy moved north into a dipping south cold jetstream and the clouds formed in the cold air and rained all this tropical heat out over us,” he said.

“Quite why the jetstream is so far south is difficult to answer. Some meteorologist think it may be due to a warming Arctic in summer – sea ice is at an all-time low in the Arctic Ocean.

“What caused this is open to debate – global warming maybe. Experts say in a globally warming world extremes in the UK will become more frequent.”