The weather where you live is not necessarily the prevailing weather across the UK

[IamEarthymama]

Is Britain's weather unique?

I have always been aware that the weather across the UK can vary hugely from place to place. Watching or listening to the weather forecast makes that very clear.
I am therefore surprised when posters say "Really, you haven't been meeting with friends and family outside? The weather has been glorious!"

Well it might be where you are but on the news you might have seen the families who had to be rescued from floods in West Wales this week. Lots of pictures of the effects of the storms, trees brought down, parks closed to the public etc.

I think it's the air of disbelief that irks a little. As if those of us living in wet, cold and miserable weather are somehow lacking in moral fibre and if we only bought the correct clothing we too could be sitting in
a pub garden, merrily quaffing G&Ts.

At the beginning of lockdown it was glorious here in South Wales. Since early July it has been mostly wet and chilly, with the odd exceptionally lovely couple of days here and there.
In fact, I seriously thought of washing and putting away the majority of my summer clothes as I have lived in jeans, skirts with tights, jumpers and cardigans recently.

I have lived in various parts of the UK, perhaps that is why I understood that weather conditions are variable.
Has anyone else noticed this attitude on MN?

No not really
I live in SE and it’s been a sensational summer

I am fully aware that it’s largely been shit up north.

Not specially on MN but the media often behave as though the weather in London/SE is national.

I'm up north and, as the pp said, it has indeed been largely shit this summer.

It's pissing down and really chilly today and if it didn't seem ridiculous to do so in August, I would be tempted to put the heating on

As I write this my hands are freezing cold, all I did was walk to the end of the garden to the bin!
I think it's going to be heating on, blanket on the sofa and hearty casserole for tea!! 😉😊

There was a thread a few weeks ago from a poster who was appalled that Nicola Sturgeon hadn’t seen fit to change the Scottish school year to what she (the Op) considered a more appropriate point, weather wise.

The poster was apparently unaware that Glasgow is @ 400 miles from London and that weather 400 miles away might be a little different to what she was experiencing .

Yes I've noticed it OP, we're at the opposite end of the island to you. Often the weather is very dry in East Anglia, but my parents live 50 miles nearer London and it's usually hotter, but wetter where they are.

It's also why we don't head to the seaside when we have good weather at home. We once drove 50 minutes away. It was pushing 30 degrees at home, but we expected it to be a little cooler on the coast. At Felixstowe there was a heavy sea mist and it was 16 degrees 😂.

The meteorologists round here don't seem to have access to a basic bit of kit - The Window. We're a bit rural - but come on!

They often tell us how sunny and clear it is currently right across our region, while a glance out the window reveals it's pissing down and has been for hours. Or how we must be enjoying our lovely clear sunrise across our county. Nope. Thick bloody fog here thanks

When i lived in W London the local weather report was usually quite spot on!

I live in the SE and summer has been crap!

We went to cornwall 2 weeks ago.back home they had a heatwave. In cornwall we were lucky to see the sun!

Not sure where up North it's been largely shit,but in my part of the Northwest we have had some glorious weather this summer

Not on MN but sometimes on tv weather forecasts.

if it didn't seem ridiculous to do so in August, I would be tempted to put the heating on Mine's on . It goes on if it's cold not according to the calender.
North East here and one of the best summer's I can remember.
Yes it's been rubbish in the last couple of weeks but I do think that summer generally starts in May and August is very rarely one of the best months weather wise.
Perhaps it used to be different? School summer hols would definitely be better starting in June, especially if we are not going abroad.

I live in the Midlands therefore I'm the centre of the universe. Hence the name. If your weather is different to mine, it's wrong. Hth

Yes, I have a friend who lives halfway across the country from me who seems convinced that any bad weather there is experienced everywhere and at the same time

I have noticed this attitude on MN, a poster says that she has put her heating on, cue hundreds of posts saying how glorious and warm it is.
I’m in the south east and it’s been a mixed bag this summer, it’s been consistently humid even when it’s been raining and we’ve had some of hottest weather I’ve ever experienced in this country. I couldn’t sit out in it and I love the heat.

Had planned a day on my own in Edinburgh today. Lasted about an hour in the cold and wet and came home. Heating has been on this week. The good weather of April/May is a distant memory here.

You're so right, OP, it's a really common assumption on MN that everyone in the UK has the same weather. Most often from people in the SE, I think.

I mean it’s really prevalent in the media. There have been a lot of occasions this summer when there have been pieces on the news about the “UK” or “England” basking in a blistering heatwave with all the usual footage of Bournemouth beach and up here it’s been pissing it down for days. It’s just the unthinking assumption that it must be the same everywhere as it is in the South.

I live on the Isle of Wight.

I’ve left home in beautiful hot sunshine, driven to the other side of the Island and found freezing cold rain and mist.

We seem to have a little bit of a microclimate going on down here. I’ve stood on the seafront in beautiful hot sunshine and watched a massive storm going on over in Southampton

Although, weather has been utter pants the last few weeks, it’s been a pretty good summer on the whole

I live in the south coast looking over at the Isle of Wight and there are micro climates. Hail and thunderstorms one end of the mile long road and completely calm the other. I only work 15 minutes away and I'll be driving home in torrential rain and when I get home the garden is bone dry. It pretty much never ever snows here as as soon as the snow hits the coast it turns into slush but then we can go 10 minutes into the new forest and I'll be proper deep sledging snow.

YANBU, but it's not just weather. People can't comprehend that other people in other parts of the UK don't have the same school holidays/job opportunities/shops/public transport etc etc.

Remember the thread where a poster in rural Scotland had no nappies and about 50 Londoners piled in to tell her to "get an Uber to the 24 hour garage" Perfect example!

Likewise @Springersrock I've looked out the window in the morning and all the sky is clear except for the massive cloud hanging directly over the Isle of Wight 😁

Yes!

There was a thread not too long ago by a London based op saying it was unfair on Scots children having to go to school in a heatwave!

The op was oblivious and even after being told was disbelieving that the weather/climate here in Scotland varies significantly from that of London!

I too have lived all over Uk (army brat) inc Wales (though I was only little then don’t especially remember) and even one or 2 counties distance can make quite a difference.

Definitely wetter on the west coast to the east too, I’ve had people I know who live in Edinburgh assume I’m getting the same as them on the opposite coast!

Totally agree MSM and at times mn when overwhelmed with SE based mners tends to be very SE centric in assumptions about the weather.

I listen to commercial radio and I think the station is based along the south coast and notice the same with them with weather reports.

@springersrock yes! I live “in town” (still fairly quiet where I am) parents live in a village approx 6 miles away, they can be having gorgeous, sunny and hot weather while at me it’s pissing it down and freezing - and vice versa so I’m completely bewildered that people don’t realise that 400 miles away the weather is different!

Laiste
”The meteorologists round here don't seem to have access to a basic bit of kit - The Window. We're a bit rural - but come on"

That made me giggle!!

The last time we had snow here was really odd.
I live near a conflagration of 2 rivers, therefore 2 valleys. In fact there are 5 mountains around us. We often can't see the tops of said mountain (she said, using the in-situ meteorological tool recommended above 😉)
So, it snowed. My daughter lives about 4 miles away in one direction, my friend about 6 miles away in the opposite.
Lots of early morning messages and calls about the snow, was public transport running etc etc.
DW and i were going to work together so we togged up, coats, scarves, non-slip boots, the lot.
We had looked in the back garden, quite a bit of snow.
We went out through the front door and there was NO snow on the ground outside the house! A tiny bit had blown against the houses opposite. Our street was clear.
We caught the bus, a little more snow lying at the top of the road.
About half a mile away, it was really deep, the road had been ploughed and the pavements were knee deep!
It was really odd.
Obviously something to do with the wind direction and the mountains.

If friends ask what's it like to live in this village we always tell them our snow story!

And by the same token @BikeTyson I was watching the weather a few years ago and they were going on about what terrible summer weather England was having as it was miserable in London and the south east and yet it was cracking the flags in the North West 🙄

Oh definitely OP. I remember reading this whole long post about issues the poster was having with her MIL and there was one tiny reference to MIL taking her daughter out and jumping in puddles or something and this one poster ignored everything else just to comment 'But how could she be jumping in puddles it hasn't rained for days?' complete with sceptical emoji. OP hadn't specified whether they lived in Brighton, Inverness, somewhere in-between or Outer Mongolia, and I think it was around autumn time so perfectly believable that it had, in fact, been raining somewhere, if not everywhere, but this appeared to be beyond one poster's comprehension.

The one thing I have learnt from MN though is how incapable lots of people are at imagining/putting themselves in the shoes of anyone outside of their own very specific circumstances, as @crapster said.

Also I am in SWales and freezing too