Rainfall figures for Scotland this summer so far is 75mm up to 18th July

The Scottish June rainfall average is 82mm.

Could it be a summer where Scotland is drier than SE England?  (75mm to 138mm thus far)

This has been happening quite a lot over the last year or so, and not just during this summer.

At other times as well, there has been a lot of low pressure systems which have taken a more southerly track across Scotland and missed Scotland together.

During that same period, I have hardly seen any low pressure systems which have taken the so-called "default" route across Scotland in such a way that SE has been drier as a result.

This means that even though the so-called "default" setup is one where Scotland is wetter than SE England, I have seen very few occasions during the last year or so when this has actually been the case.

As a result of that, I would even go as far as saying that we really all need to stop referring to that as the default setup in this manner, as this is clearly no longer the case any more.

Furthermore, this shows us that nearly all of the more interesting weather which happens in this country, happens in the south of England with virtually nothing happening here in Scotland, especially here in Edinburgh.

 

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This has been happening quite a lot over the last year or so, and not just during this summer.

At other times as well, there has been a lot of low pressure systems which have taken a more southerly track across Scotland and missed Scotland together.

During that same period, I have hardly seen any low pressure systems which have taken the so-called "default" route across Scotland in such a way that SE has been drier as a result.

This means that even though the so-called "default" setup is one where Scotland is wetter than SE England, I have seen very few occasions during the last year or so when this has actually been the case.

As a result of that, I would even go as far as saying that we really all need to stop referring to that as the default setup in this manner, as this is clearly no longer the case any more.

Furthermore, this shows us that nearly all of the more interesting weather which happens in this country, happens in the south of England with virtually nothing happening here in Scotland, especially here in Edinburgh.

 

 

Edinburgh I would say gets as much “interesting” weather as anywhere else. Did you miss the flooding a couple of weeks ago?

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Edinburgh I would say gets as much “interesting” weather as anywhere else. Did you miss the flooding a couple of weeks ago?

No, I didn't but that was only a very rare and isolated event in the overall scale of things.

London also had quite a big flooding event more recently than that and in the overall scale of things, I would still say that the number of interesting weather events which occur down south vastly outnumbers what we get here in Edinburgh.

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I would still say that the number of interesting weather events which occur down south vastly outnumbers what we get here in Edinburgh.

In the same way, that the number of interesting weather events which occur in Scotland vastly outnumbers what we get here in Evesham


Obviously a much bigger area will experience more weather events.   But, do you think you get less compared with, say, a more comparable city like Bristol?

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In the same way, that the number of interesting weather events which occur in Scotland vastly outnumbers what we get here in Evesham


Obviously a much bigger area will experience more weather events.   But, do you think you get less compared with, say, a more comparable city like Bristol?

Yes, I do.

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Yes, I do.

Using what for evidence though?

Last week I said that in the past year you have had far more interesting weather events than I have, I cited the torrential rain & thunderstorms last August, the thundersnow event last winter, having a lot more snow than my paltry 2 inches or so (6 inches?) and also last weeeks flooding. Nothing like that has ocurred here in that time period. You still claimed your weather was boring!

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Using what for evidence though?

Last week I said that in the past year you have had far more interesting weather events than I have, I cited the torrential rain & thunderstorms last August, the thundersnow event last winter, having a lot more snow than my paltry 2 inches or so (6 inches?) and also last weeeks flooding. Nothing like that has ocurred here in that time period. You still claimed your weather was boring!

... and I still continue to do so.

Flooding events do occasionally occur here on the odd rare occasion, and I will admit to the fact that these are becoming more intense over time due to climate change, along with our thunderstorms which can now occur at any time of the year even in the middle of winter, and not just during the summer.

However, our more unsettled spells of weather keep on getting shorter over time as more and more Atlantic weather systems keep on being pushed onto a more southerly track across England to such an extent that they end up avoiding this part of the world altogether and passing to our south.

This has the effect of reducing our overall rainfall totals and as our drier spells keep on getting longer, we are going to eventually end up with an increasingly desert-like and arid climate here in Scotland whilst England and Wales gets most of the rainfall, including your own neck of the woods in Bolton.

The result of this is that we just don't generally get changeable weather any more like what we used to get, because our so-called "weather" is increasingly becoming defined only in terms of how much cloud or sunshine is around, due to the fact that it hardly ever rains here any more in the way that it used to.

At the end of the day, it just doesn't get any more boring than that and that is something is becoming more the case all the time so although you might be claiming just now that your own weather down in Bolton is less interesting that it is here in Edinburgh, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a completely different story in say, ten years' time (due to the fact that you will still be within that part of England and Wales which is still getting its abundant rainfall even then) and that is the point which I am trying to put across.

 

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Your famed west-facing hobby room would be Retron's idea of his very own personal hell....

I already had it, my west-facing bedroom. That stopped when I bought a portable a/c, before I had that it regularly got into the mid-30s on the sort of still, sunny and hot days we've had of late. The final straw was hitting 38C one afternoon in 2006, when I went to bed and felt heat pulsing into me from the mattress. Utterly un-sleepable!

It was generally fine when I was a child in the 80s, but of course 30C was major headline news then, rather than something people seem to expect for a week or more each summer! It's a similar story at the (flat-roofed) block I'm in at work, they built those classrooms in the 60s and nowadays it effortlessly gets into the low to mid 30s in there on a summer afternoon. It's hated by the teachers and pupils alike!

Nothing you can do about it short of ripping it all down, or putting in a/c.

 

 

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Nothing more boring than the weather here 

Yet another rank grey depressing day while the rest of the country enjoys sunshine. Stupefying crud that just sits there refusing to clear or break. Barely any difference between night and day temperatures with a low of 14.8C and only 16.2C now 

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... and I still continue to do so.

Flooding events do occasionally occur here on the odd rare occasion, and I will admit to the fact that these are becoming more intense over time due to climate change, along with our thunderstorms which can now occur at any time of the year even in the middle of winter, and not just during the summer.

However, our more unsettled spells of weather keep on getting shorter over time as more and more Atlantic weather systems keep on being pushed onto a more southerly track across England to such an extent that they end up avoiding this part of the world altogether and passing to our south.

This has the effect of reducing our overall rainfall totals and as our drier spells keep on getting longer, we are going to eventually end up with an increasingly desert-like and arid climate here in Scotland whilst England and Wales gets most of the rainfall, including your own neck of the woods in Bolton.

The result of this is that we just don't generally get changeable weather any more like what we used to get, because our so-called "weather" is increasingly becoming defined only in terms of how much cloud or sunshine is around, due to the fact that it hardly ever rains here any more in the way that it used to.

At the end of the day, it just doesn't get any more boring than that and that is something is becoming more the case all the time so although you might be claiming just now that your own weather down in Bolton is less interesting that it is here in Edinburgh, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a completely different story in say, ten years' time (due to the fact that you will still be within that part of England and Wales which is still getting its abundant rainfall even then) and that is the point which I am trying to put across.

 

OK, I think I understand now. You prefer generally changeable conditions with variety day to day, rather than long dry spell. The more 'extreme' events I listed don't do so much for you, or at least not enough to outweigh the 'boringness' of the lack of rain. Well for me I would prefer just what you get, as this is a wet part of the country i find most rain pretty boring and would prefer the lengthy dry spells. Plus those extreme event I would find a lot more interesting that you appear to do.

I guess we just have very different views on the weather we consider 'interesting' :)

 

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OK, I think I understand now. You prefer generally changeable conditions with variety day to day, rather than long dry spell. The more 'extreme' events I listed don't do so much for you, or at least not enough to outweigh the 'boringness' of the lack of rain. Well for me I would prefer just what you get, as this is a wet part of the country i find most rain pretty boring and would prefer the lengthy dry spells. Plus those extreme event I would find a lot more interesting that you appear to do.

I guess we just have very different views on the weather we consider 'interesting' :)

 

I'm just pleased that the penny has dropped at long last on that one.

We are all entitled in life to have differing opinions on things and in my view, it is these differing opinions which make the actual study of our weather more interesting (and which keeps me interested in this type of forum) even if the actual weather itself, is boring as far as I am concerned.

 

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Out of curiosity what weather over a period of weeks, for example in the summer, would you find interesting?

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I'm just pleased that the penny has dropped at long last on that one.

Well there was no need to be so patronising, was there?

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Well there was no need to be so patronising, was there?

It was never my intention to be patronising at any time, so I will apologise now if I have appeared in any way to have come across like that.

 

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It was never my intention to be patronising at any time, so I will apologise now if I have appeared in any way to have come across like that.

 

No Problem :)

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Out of curiosity what weather over a period of weeks, for example in the summer, would you find interesting?

I have no favourite type of weather, so I will find the weather interesting if it is varying from one day to the next in such a way that it is difficult for us to know what the weather will actually be from one day to the next. That is the case regardless of what the weather is actually like because to me, it is that uncertainty which makes the weather more interesting.

All too often these days, we are stuck in the same weather pattern for a long time which means that our weather over these periods of time barely change at all from that one day to the next. When that happens, we basically already know what the next day's weather is going to be like because we know that it is unlikely to be much different from how it was on the previous day which to me, just makes everything rather boring.

Those stuck in a rut scenarios have been picked up a lot in the media, with climate change being seen as being a possible cause of these situations occurring on a much more regular basis these days and that is probably just going to make our weather even more boring and uninteresting over time as a result.

Having said that though, I also like to the seasons to be as they should and because of that, I am enjoying the fact that we are experiencing quite a decent summer overall at the moment in this part of the world. Given that last winter was colder than of late with a cold spring after that, this was something which I wasn't expecting to see.

Last winter has often been seen as a teaser winter with the possibility of an even colder to come the next time. Because of that, I was expecting to see a lot of northern blocking during this summer with low pressure underneath it, resulting in a very poor and wet summer That is not how this summer has ended up though and so although I am enjoying what has been happening during this summer, this is also casting a lot of doubts in my mind about next winter being such a cold one after all.

 

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This weather is hell.

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This weather is hell.

For once it looks like Galway is having the same conditions we get here most summers in Kent. Fun, isn't it?

(I find it's the high dewpoints as much as the heat which make it feel unpleasant. 37C in somewhere like Vegas feels much more comfortable as a result, even to a heat-hater like me!)

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Manchester Summer Indices ranked in order with the best at the top

1976 301

1995 298

1983 278

1955 277

1911 274

2018 272

1984 271

1959 269

1975 268

1949 267

1989 262

1947 255

1933 251

1901 249

1921 249

2003 247

2013 247

1925 246

2006 246

1996 245

1935 243

1994 240

2021 240 (up to 20th July)

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For once it looks like Galway is having the same conditions we get here most summers in Kent. Fun, isn't it?

(I find it's the high dewpoints as much as the heat which make it feel unpleasant. 37C in somewhere like Vegas feels much more comfortable as a result, even to a heat-hater like me!)

Defo the high dew points that are getting to me to. Hovering between 19c and 21c all day along with the consistently high temps wears a bit thin. We practically hand no sun here for the first half of summer, and when it did finally burst forth, this is the form it came in. Unbearable to be out in for anything more than a minute. 

I don't envy you at all for having to suffer this sort of weather every summer in Kent. I couldn't bear it, but at least you are assured of some big thunder to offer some temporary relief at times. Here, it's all a bit hit and miss. 

Roll on October. 

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