FLAMING June. This is likely to turn out to be the coldest summer month for more than 40 years.

In most years, that opening word is employed as a straightforward adjective. In 2015, if it is used at all, it is as an expletive.

This is likely to turn out to be the coldest summer month for more than 40 years. Scotland’s average temperature up until this week was 9.3C, two degrees below normal. This followed in the sodden footsteps of May, which was blighted by 49 per cent more than rain than the average. The immediate prospects are not good, with unsettled conditions expected to prevail for the next 10 days or so.