Weird Weather Differences...

The weather is one of the things I was unprepared for before I moved to the UK.  I was ready for cold/damp/grey, but not for the rapid changes.  Definitely makes life interesting.

The weather is one of the things I was unprepared for before I moved to the UK.  I was ready for cold/damp/grey, but not for the rapid changes.  Definitely makes life interesting.

Yeah, in that way it's been both better and worse than I expected. Better because it's often temperate and gorgeous, not depressing or constantly fog-bound as I'd been told. Worse because in the time it takes me to walk to my local store, it can change from sunny and warm to drizzly and cold! My husband and I can leave the house ten minutes apart, and encounter completely different weather.

*grumbles* it's too bloody cold for the middle of April.  The last two days have really been like winter all over again.

Um, Jim is in the US - somewhere near Las Vegas, I believe, so I doubt what he is experiencing is a British Spring (especially not with a weekend forecast of 87 degrees, as he mentions above)  .

Sorry, I was going by what appeared to be the subject of the thread,

Weird Weather Differences...

...from one part of the UK to another.  What's up with that?

But I guess weird weather knows no borders.

87 degrees? That's nearly boiling point! (Yes, I know!)

The weather is one of the things I was unprepared for before I moved to the UK.  I was ready for cold/damp/grey, but not for the rapid changes.  Definitely makes life interesting.

As the old saying goes, if you don't like the British weather, just wait five minutes!   

Today was beautiful here in Norfolk, not especially high temperatures but calm and sunny making it feel much warmer.  It's been very variable over the last week though. 

This was the scene on a nearby beach on Good Friday, and the ice-cream kiosk was quite busy:



By Saturday evening we were enveloped in mist and all day Easter Sunday and Monday were dull, drizzly, and chilly.   But then that's what we expect on Bank Holidays.   

As the old saying goes, if you don't like the British weather, just wait five minutes!   

We say that in Texas, too, but British weather changes even faster than Texas weather.

We say that in Texas, too, but British weather changes even faster than Texas weather.

In my experience, everyone everywhere complains about their weather, and everyone thinks that their weather is special and unique.  Everywhere I've lived, people do this.  In Wisconsin it's the cold, in California it's the heat.  In Japan, people used to tell me about the unique Japanese phenomenon of four distinct seasons.  When I told them we have four seasons in the US as well, they were gobsmacked.  Since I've come to England, nearly everyone I've met has expressed concern about my ability to handle the "cold" here.  They nod politely when I inform them that I lived most of my life in a place that gets properly cold in the winter, but they clearly don't believe me.  Frankly, I think the weirdest thing about the weather is people's proud, proprietary attitude about the weirdness of their weather.  But I guess it does give us something to talk about.   

*grumbles* it's too bloody cold for the middle of April.  The last two days have really been like winter all over again.

This week has been like that up here too (not far from you), until yesterday.  I went into city centre to meet up with a friend - wearing two coats (fleece & waterproof) because it was overcast & chilly.  By mid-afternoon, the sun was out & I was hot wearing the coats.  But it was great weather by then for sitting outside at the pub! 

In my experience, everyone everywhere complains about their weather, and everyone thinks that their weather is special and unique.  ...  Frankly, I think the weirdest thing about the weather is people's proud, proprietary attitude about the weirdness of their weather.  But I guess it does give us something to talk about. 

The thing that makes me laugh about peoples' attitude toward weather here in the UK is no matter what is happening at what time of year, people will say "It's not normally like this."  When I came over to live in April of 2007, the weather was beautiful and warm and everyone said, "It's not normally like this."  When I'd ask them what it's normally like, they'd just say, "Not this."

Similarly, when we had all that rain in July of that year people would say, "It's not normally like this," and I've come to expect that no matter what is happening it's not what normally happens.  My guess is that because the weather changes so fast here, there really is no "normal."  Watch the BBC's weather report almost any time of the year and the forecast will be "Sunshine with some clouds and showers, temperatures warm and cold throughout the day."

Similarly, when we had all that rain in July of that year people would say, "It's not normally like this," and I've come to expect that no matter what is happening it's not what normally happens.  My guess is that because the weather changes so fast here, there really is no "normal."  Watch the BBC's weather report almost any time of the year and the forecast will be "Sunshine with some clouds and showers, temperatures warm and cold throughout the day."

Yeah. we've had some weird summers lately so nothing really seems 'normal' anymore - 2003 was the hottest on record for a long time and on one August day the temperature reached 100F at Heathrow Airport (highest temperature ever recorded in the UK)! I think 2004 and 2005 were average summers - a mix of warm days and cooler days with rain (I remember that mid-July 2005 was hot though because I graduated from uni then and was sweltering in my heavy black robes... the temperature was in the high 20s (Celsius) that day). In 2006 we had a 2-week heatwave in July where it was almost as hot as 2003 (our A/C was broken at work so we were all sweating our way through the days!), while 2007 and 2008 were pretty miserable and wet (although I was only in the UK for 2 weeks of July and then from mid-August onwards last summer).

With the nice weather we've had over the last few weeks, I'm hoping for a nice summer again this year, but then we had a nice April/May in 2007 and the media were predicting that it would be the year temps reached a record high of 40 Celsius and we ended up with torrential rain and average temperatures of about 14C for most of the summer!

I'm hoping for a nice summer again this year

You are so getting assimilated! That is such a British thing to say!

You are so getting assimilated! That is such a British thing to say!

I would hope so, as she's born and bred British