St Albans saw its first ground frost of the autumn last month, according to the weather boffins at Rothamsted Research.

The Harpenden-based scientists said September was sunny and mainly dry, but switched between warm and cool temperatures.

Rainfall was 6.63mm below average at 51mm. There were 12 days with 0.2mm or more of rain and four with over 5mm. The day with the most rainfall was September 20 with 16.4mm.

St Albans enjoyed 44.77 hours more sunshine than the average, with 188.2 hours in total. The most sunshine was recorded on September 2 with 11.6 hours and there was only one day without any.

Despite temperatures alternating between warm and cool, as well as the ground frost, the mean maximum temperature was warmer than average at 19C (less than 1C above average) and the minimum temperature was cooler than average at 9.2C (less than 1C below average).