AS IF the weather wasn't enough to make York residents think winter was on the way, the city has hosted an unexpected visit -from none other than Santa Claus.

He took a break from his workshop to visit York - six months before Christmas Eve.

And as York is battered by wet and wild wintry weather, you could be forgiven for thinking summer was over already.

Santa turned up at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Tadcaster Road, as the national chain launched its 2005 Christmas party programme.

He was joined by hotel staff and representatives from local companies for a traditional Christmas dinner, before heading back to his grotto in Lapland.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire's weird weather has continued, with an amateur weather forecaster recording 12 days' worth of rain in the space of 24 hours.

Alan Pemberton, of Huntington, recorded 21mm of rain at his miniature weather station on Wednesday, and in the first week of July the figure is 28mm. In the whole of May he recorded only 22mm, while 44mm fell in June.

Updated: 10:09 Thursday, July 07, 2005