Scotland has had one of the wettest summers on record - and the last day of the season tomorrow is expected to bring yet more rain.

Statistics released by the Met Office showed that Midlothian this month reached a new regional high for rainfall since records began nearly a century ago.

More than three times the average 71mm of rain for the region has fallen this month so far, with 228.2mm.

Nearby Fife had the third- wettest August on record after torrential rains caused numerous burns to burst their banks, flooding homes and closing many minor roads.

Overall the country was deluged by even more rain this month than last year's washout August, making it likely to become the 15th- worst since 1914.

Just over 152mm of rain had fallen nationwide this month up until yesterday, more than the 138.3mm that fell last year and nearly 50% more than the average August rainfall in Scotland of 107.4mm.

With forecasters yesterday predicting that the last day of summer will end with further heavy rain in places, that level is set to rise even higher.

Scotland's damp season helped push up UK rainfall levels to around 50% more than normal to become one of the wettest UK summers on record.

The soggy summer also saw the worst August sunshine hours since records began, although northern Scotland bucked the trend as places like Shetland and Orkney basked under far-sunnier skies.

The Met Office said that reflected a north/south divide within Scotland with southern areas worst-hit due to jetstream winds moving in that direction.

Forecaster Helen Chivers said: "There have been marked north-south divisions. The reason we have had such wet weather is because a lot of areas of low pressure have been moving across Northern Ireland, England and southern Scotland. The rainfall just has not got up to northern Scotland and that area has had more easterly winds and drier weather.

"The reason the areas of low pressure have been so far south is due to the position of the jet stream, the bands of winds 30,000ft above the ground that move the weather from west to east. Normally we expect the jetstream to be between Scotland and Iceland but this summer, like last summer, it has been a lot further south, much more towards France, so we have been on the colder side of it instead of the warmer side, hence we have had a lot of wet weather over the past few months."

Next week will also be rainy, but there was some good news, with the black clouds due to clear away as autumn arrives.

Ms Chivers said: "The start of September will remain unsettled but there are signs of some drier weather coming in. Longer-term forecasts suggest that rainfall in September, October and November will be slightly below average."

Visitscotland said it was too early to say if the poor weather had damaged the tourist trade during the key holiday month, but a spokeswoman was optimistic that people would not have been put off "because they don't expect sunshine in Scotland".