Eric Alexander’s letter of August 15 claims that May, June and July are the warmest months on record and August will be the same. He is totally wrong in his claims simply because he sources his information from unreliable, alarmist websites and a Saudi Arabian English speaking commercial satellite TV station, Al Jazeera. In contrast I only quote data from reliable scientific sources, the Meteorological Office and Phillip Eden weather statistician and past President of the Royal Meteorological Society.

The Central England Temperature (CET) series provides mean monthly temperature data for every month back to 1659. The CET mean temperature for May 2014 was 12.4C, 0.7C above the 1981-2000 mean. In the past 100 years there have been 19 warmer Mays.

It was the warmest since May 2008 and the wettest and dullest since May 2007.

For June 2014 the CET was 15.6C, 1.1C above the 1981-2000 mean. In the past 100 years there have been 9 warmer Junes. June 2014 was cooler than June 2013.

For July 2004 the CET was 17.8C, 1.1C above the 1981-200 mean and in the last 100 years there have been nine warmer Julys.

So I hope that Eric Alexander will realise that although May, June and July was a warm period it certainly was not record-breaking. It was the first extended warm period during the English summer since 2006.

August will certainly not be a warm month. During the much colder days and nights since August 8, it is likely that August will be the first month this year to record a mean temperature below the 1981-2000 mean.

One of my favourite subjects while at university was Applied Thermodynamics. Let me assure readers that Roderick Taylor’s letters represent sound proven science rather than unproven alarmist opinions as provided by Eric Alexander. — Anthony Weeden, by email