The climate of the UK

The climate of Britain is more or less the same as that of the north-western part of the European mainland, yet its climate is much milder because of the Gulf Stream, which brings warm water and air across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. The popular belief that it rains all the time in Britain is simply not true. The image of a wet, foggy land was created two thousand years ago by the invading Romans and has been perpetuated in modern times by Hollywood. In fact, London gets no more rain in a year than most other major European cities, and less than some. Its weather may be unpredictable, but it is not particularly wet. The amount of precipitation is distributed more or less evenly throughout the year. The wind brings rain from the Atlantic to the hills of the west. This means that the western parts of Britain are wetter than the east, which is fairly sheltered. In the mountains there is heavier rainfall than in the plains of the south and east. The mild winters mean that snow is a regular feature of the higher areas only. Occasionally, a whole winter goes by in lower-lying parts without any snow at all. The winters are in general a bit colder in the east of the country than they are in the west, while in summer; the south is slightly warmer and sunnier than the north.

The mean range of temperature (from winter to summer) reaches 18-20 ⁰C.

Average temperatures in England and Wales vary from 4⁰C in January to 16⁰C in July and August. In Scotland averages are one or two degrees cooler, and an average July day is about as warm as Marseilles in December.

January and February are usually the coldest months, July and August the warmest. Still the wind may bring winter cold in spring or summer days. Sometimes it brings whirlwinds or hurricanes. Droughts are rare.

Why has Britain’s climate got such a bad reputation? Perhaps it is for the same reason that British people always seem to be talking about the weather. This is its changeability. There is a saying that Britain doesn’t have a climate, it only has weather. It may not rain very much altogether, but you can never be sure of a dry day; there can be cool (even cold) days in July and some quite warm days in January.

In no country other than Britain can one experience four seasons in the course of a single day! Day may break as a balmy spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and the rain may be pouring down. At midday conditions may be really wintry with the temperature down by about 8 degrees or more centigrade. And then, in the late afternoon, the sky will clear, the sun will begin to shine, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer.

And, of course, the weather’s variety provides a constant topic of conversation. Even the most taciturn of the British is always prepared to discuss the weather. And, though he sometimes complains bitterly of it, he would not, even if he could, exchange it for the more predictable climate of other lands.