KEY POINTS:
Forget global warming, British residents are starting to think a chart-topping song may be to blame for the island's recent appalling weather.
Rihanna's song Umbrella has been number one there for nine weeks . . . and for nine weeks, monsoon-like rains have drenched the nation.
Now the Sun newspaper is urging its readers to stop buying and listening to the single in a bid to reclaim the summer.
It has compiled a list of alternative downloads which it hopes will reverse the bad weather, amid claims that clubbers partying to the tune may have unwittingly been doing a rain dance.
Among the suggestions are Summer Breeze by the Isley Brothers and Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.
Umbrella was also number one in the New Zealand charts for six weeks from June 4 until July 15.
During that time the country was beseiged by bad weather, with tornadoes in Taranaki, Tauranga and Auckland and flooding in the Far North.
The song has been knocked off its top spot this week by T-Pain's Bartender, featuring Akon.
Although Hawkes Bay has been battered by storms this week, the weather over the rest of the country appears to have settled.
Rihanna's hit was released in Britain on May 14.
Until then, Britain's summer had been looking promising; London was one of the warmest capital cities in Europe, with temperatures soaring to 20 degrees.
But just one day after the song hit the shops, the severe weather began to roll in.
The met office issued alerts for East Anglia and the Highlands in May, while downpours and flash floods devastated Sheffield, Hull and Doncaster as well as Kent and Hampshire in June.
Last month was the wettest June on record with almost 120mm of rain but the Sun hopes its campaign will stop this July from producing similarly depressing statistics.
Top ten downloads to attract the sun
Summertime Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Anything by KC and the Sunshine Band
Bring Me Sunshine Eric and Ernie
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life Stevie Wonder
Summer Breeze Isley Brothers
Summertime Blues Eddie Cochran
In The Summertime Mungo Jerry
Sunny Boney M
Sunny Afternoon The Kinks
Sunshine After The Rain Elkie Brooks
- NZ HERALD STAFF
