Does the weather live up to its reputation?

Thanks for the replies so far. I guess there really is no answer, lol. I can't make head nor tails of the climate charts because I can't find data (number of sunny days) from here to match up with it.

You might be able to compare it from information from here:

http://climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climate_normals/index_e.html

If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes.

 

It is this morning.

I moved from Boston and find the winters to be much easier to deal with, and I really appreciate that Spring arrives at least 6 weeks earlier.

That's a relief to hear.  We are moving from Boston to Cambridge, UK in Feb.  I am looking forward to getting away from the massive amounts of snow we are inclined to get during the winter.  I was in Cambridge in March for 2 months earlier this year, and it was soooo nice to leave grey Boston behind, and arrive to spring in the UK!

How do you find the UK?

We had an absolutely amazing autumn (I live just outside of Oxford) - loads of sunny days! It's only really started to feel cold to me in the last few days to be honest. The summer was a bit rubbish - not particularly warm, though I rarely had to dry clothes inside (my marker!)

What I absolutely despise is the darkness in winter more than the weather - leaving for work in the dark and coming home in the dark really gets to me. Luckily it's not forever and when the days do start slowly getting longer it really cheers me up!

We had an absolutely amazing autumn (I live just outside of Oxford) - loads of sunny days! It's only really started to feel cold to me in the last few days to be honest.

Yeah, I've only just started feeling cold this week (I'm just north of Bristol) - until last night, I was still using my thin summer duvet .

The summer was a bit rubbish - not particularly warm, though I rarely had to dry clothes inside (my marker!)

UK summers are so inconsistent... there were a few gorgeous hot days at the beginning of June and at the end of June, but then the rest of the summer was cooler and often cloudy (but nowhere near as much rain as the last couple of years).

There's a reason why so many Brits go abroad in the summer... it's the only way they can get guaranteed hot, sunny weather ! I didn't mind the lack of warmth in the UK this summer because I spent a week in Serbia, where it was about 80F and 2 weeks in France where it was in the high 80s/low 90s!

I don't think the weather here is as bad as I expected it to be. The summers could be a bit warmer and sunnier, but the winter doesn't bother me. It's winter! I don't mind if it's cold and overcast and a little drizzly - I just go home and make soup!  I wish it snowed a bit more where we live - we are right on the north eastern coast, so even though it's freezing sometimes, the snow doesn't stick here, though if you drive less than ten miles inland, there is loads of snow. Other than that, I don't know, the lack of sunshine doesn't really bother me. I think the sun is overrated.  I lived in Texas long enough to experience loads of hot summers and abundant sunshine, though, so I guess for me, the weather here is much more agreeable. I like not being all sweaty and stuff. And here, winter really is winter - you don't get a random 80 degree F day in winter here like you would in Texas, which sadly seemed to fall on Christmas day a lot, when you would rather it be cold and snowy.

It's a little more overcast, and I tend to always carry an umbrella, but London vs. New York, I'll take the temperatures here.  My hands/ears never hurt during the winter here. 

That said..wouldn't have minded it being a little warmer during summer, but from what I hear, it rained throughout June/July, pretty much, whereas we had some pretty nice warm patches throughout the summer. 

I'm so glad I asked this because I'm now armed with info from people who know and are unbiased. My fiance is adamant that it's all a myth and that there's just as much sunshine there as there is here. Not so! I know I will adapt, but I want to be prepared for it.

I would take snowstorms over weeks of grey nothingness. But then I remind myself how I feel in March when we are still getting dumped on. It'll be nice to be picking up the garden hoe instead of the snow shovel. 

I'm from N Cali so my first year here was difficult acclimating to the London weather.  I was used to over the 100's in the summer and getting down to freezing and snow in the winter.

I have to say that this last year was quite enjoyable.  Southern England doesn't have a huge temperature difference between day and night, which i found so different.  No huge fluctuations in temperature. 

You can get several days of drizzle in a row and then you can get a couple dry sunny days. The weather systems seem to fly by, so you always have to be prepared for a bit of rain.

I learned to get out when the sun came out, because it can change in minutes.

It is a nicer temperate climate if you enjoy flower gardening as things don't fry in the sun here. 

I get asked all the time by people here "what do you think of this weather?" I shock them when I say "I LOVE IT!" They all seem to hate it, but I'm from Virginia. I HATE humidity and I hate driving in snow... or shall I say ice, as that's what we get when we get anything usually. The summer was really dry. Even when it does rain here, it does it for part of the day or just a few minutes. I dry my clothes on the line out back, and because it's usually rather windy here, clothes would dry in 2-4 hours. It was pretty amazing. Now that fall is here, there is still plenty of sun. I don't know if that will change, it's my first winter here.

We're moving to Virginia next summer, and I'm already dreading the hot and sweaty weather

Yeah, I love the weather here, too. I've done Tennessee and Rhode Island, and now I'm on the Southeast coast of the UK.

A few of the more striking things: the temperature swings are MUCH smaller. It seldom gets above 85F or below freezing. VERY temperate; it's why so much stuff can be grown here. I walked around Kew Gardens in a t-shirt in February once.

The difference in hours of daylight in Winter and Summer is more extreme, however. The days go on forever in Summer, and it's Mole People all the way in Winter.

Also, the weather forecasts are appallingly unreliable. My theory is, because we're on an island and lots of the weather comes from the Atlantic. Weird weather suddenly boils off the Channel at us that isn't in the forecast. In Rhode Island, weather nearly always came from the West across land, so you could watch weather patterns head toward you for several days.

To be fair, I've only done one complete Summer here and we had near-record drought conditions in our area. It NEVER rained this Summer. Everyone assures me that isn't normal and it can be quite dismal for long periods. I was looking forward to that...big pot of coffee, book, rainy weekend.

You know how people in Florida think 70 F is freezing?  It's all what you're used to living in.  I think I've always heard the weather's "drab", but coming from Boston, I think it's great!  It's not hot and humid in the summer here (there was a 3 day heat wave that didn't get higher than 90, and everyone thought it was awful here).  Humidity doesn't even exist, in my opinion.  It gets warm, and sometimes hot, but never uncomfortable.  The winters are cold, like a coat, hat and gloves, but not unbearable at all.  Coming from Canada, you'll probably think it's t-shirt weather!  And there was definitely more sunshine than I expected.  I honestly think it rains more in Boston than in England.  If it rains, it's not even for more than a few hours (I'm used to having it rain hard ALL day in Boston, if it is a rainy day.)  I live in the East Midlands, so maybe it's different here than closer to the water.

I've been here for a year and 2ish months and IMO I was spoiled by a dry year.  Was convinced that the weather was a myth, until about a month ago.  It's rained pretty much everyday since I can remember now.  In my limited experience 'English weather' days have been the exception.  Now I see that they actually are the rule. 

I've always enjoyed rain, but when you have to go outside and function in it, it can become tiresome.  I walk everywhere, carry all my own shopping and books and everything else I need.  Even if it's just my shoes that get drenched, it can get make it all that much harder. 

It takes a massive mental shift to get used to dark at 4pm.  The way I figure it, there are 8 months of excessive day and only 4 months of excessive night so it's not so bad.  But it does take mental effort to remember that it's only 4pm, that it's not time to prepare for sleep or necessarily rush/stay home because of the lack of light.

Temperature wise - locals told me that last winter was especially cold, but I found it very manageable.  I was frigid freezing once or twice, but that mostly had to do with having wet clothes from being rained on.  Because I walk everywhere, I often find I've overdressed after 10-15 minutes of leaving home because of the humidity.  If I were going from house to car to shop, I'd be OK.  Then again, if you leave home at noon and return home at 7, you might well be dealing with two very different temperature comfort levels.  You just don't know, so you have to be prepared for anything!

Whether or not it is going to be an issue for you depends on your perspective.  I can see how it can get a body down, but then again, there isn't much you can do about   
it!

YI honestly think it rains more in Boston than in England.  If it rains, it's not even for more than a few hours (I'm used to having it rain hard ALL day in Boston, if it is a rainy day.)  I live in the East Midlands, so maybe it's different here than closer to the water.

London's rainfall is the same as Oakland's, far lower than the Pacific Northwest's and lower than New England's. However, there are about three times as many days in London on which rain falls than in Oakland.

Although a lot of this is subjective, other positives about the English climate are (i) it doesn't suffer from the combination of heat and humidity that the eastern seaboard does in summer and (ii) the winters are far milder than the northeast and the midwest. I also find the benefits of long summer evenings to outweigh the disbenefits of short winter days.

Put it this way, regardless of the ins and outs it can make you really depressed or you might not mind, but if you are the sort of person that needs sunshine, it probably will get you a bit down.

Thing is, you can avoid and and to be fair you do get used to it. It affects me quite a bit despite having experienced it for a long time, but mainly when it begins. I know for other people it's the other way around, but after a few weeks of the really crap weather beginning I forget about it and before you know it spring's on its way.

The plus side of the dreary weather is that when it is nice, everyone relishes in it. On really sunny days in summer there's a really happy mood and you can just sense everyone in the city is happy and you can go to the park and people are friendly with each other (!) and all sorts of other strange occurrences.

And when it snows, everyone goes crazy too. Good and bad. Things shut down and we do overreact, BUT because it is so rare you get an entire street having snowball fights and otherwise dour people reverting to the happy, carefree 10 y.o. they once were