Why the weather's so grotty

Here in the South-West we had a hot and glorious May which has caused a drought because of the shortage of rainfall. In July we had rain and storms and August looks like beging the same. Why ?

The Sud-Ouest says that it's because Europe is stuck between two stable masses of hot dry air - one in Russia giving a massive heatwave and the other baking our brethren 'neath the western skies. Between these two masses of high pressures a series of depressions wash our sweet shores with torrential downpours - "le ciel vous tombe sur la tête" as the Sud-Ouest so graphically puts it.

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