What’s up with the weather?

There is one subject that is almost certain to pop up in conversation be it with friends, colleagues or even strangers and that is the British weather! The typical British summer can have days of blissful sunshine followed by days of heavy rain which can result in flash floods. It might often seem that the Brit’s almost have a national obsession in moaning about the weather but it is a great way of striking conversation. The United Kingdom can be described as being in a maritime temperate zone and this means that the weather is largely influenced by the seas around us.

This means that our weather is very changeable; the unsettling effect of low-pressure zones from the westerly and south westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean mixed with the Gulf Stream also known as the North Atlantic Drift can make predicting the weather very difficult.

Temperate zones, such as Europe, get more of their rain in the winter from the effect of low-pressure zones coming in from the Atlantic driven by the prevailing westerlies. Hilly areas can get extra rainfall from what is known as the ‘orographic effect’ which occurs where air is forced to rise over high ground. Coastal regions and more mountainous regions can experience more varied forms of weather and it if you are visiting it’s always good to check the weather updates for the latest news.

You may get the impression that it rains all the time but London on average gets 584mm or 23inches of rain annually much less compared to Amsterdam which gets 804mm or 31.5 inches. The northern parts of the British Isles generally get less sunshine and more rainfall then the south, for example the average temperature in Aberdeen (Scotland) during the summer is 18C while in London it’s 22C.

The highest recorded UK temperature was a sweltering 38.5c set in Brodgale in Kent in 2003 while the coldest was a shivering -27.2°C recorded in Braemar in Grampian on the 10th of January 1982! To check the latest weather forecasts around the British Isles we recommend using the following sites:

• BBC Weather
• Met Office

In the summer months (June, July, August) you can expect Sunrise to be between 5-6am with sunset between 8:30pm-9:30pm, the longest day is the 21st of June. The winter months (November, December, and January) sunrise is usually between 7:30-8:30am with the sun setting around 5-6pm with the shortest day being the 20th of December.

Don’t be sucked into the gloom and doom about the good old British weather, there are many days when it is simply beautiful and the clear blue skies over countryside or the sandy coasts will take your breath away.
All though you can never be sure what the weather will be like you can count that the weathermen or women will be wrong more often then right and you will find solace in your conversation by blaming all your troubles on them!