If you love the sun, how do you cope if you live in a Scotland? Or north England?!

[Bertieboo82]

I am a soft southerner. Born just outside of London and other than when working abroad for long stretches, I have always remained in SE. So used to mild winters and generally always good summers, sometimes long stretches of beautiful hot sun and long days. Good job too that I love the sun!

my brother is going up to Inverness next weekend on a stag weekend. Forecast is 17/18 degrees and cloudy. Whereas forecast for where I live for next weekend is sun all day and 29/32!!

my sister will be in Newcastle up on Tyne - 20/21 and patchy sun

I know this will suit many but those who love the sun and warmth… how do you fare if live up north?!

I must be missing something, I’ve lived in London, Yorkshire and the North East of England. It was maybe a few degrees colder in winter in “the North” but the only really difference was that it was too hot and humid in London. It didn’t seem like there were noticeably more sunny days there, just that the heat was more oppressive. 21 and sunny, even if there’s (shock horror) scattered cloud is lovely. 29 and sunny is hard work.

The North East had the least rain of all 3, because of the Pennines rain shadow. I hate the rain, so I’d take the apparently biting cold which is not actually much colder than London any day.

I haven’t lived in Scotland but I can see how the north of Scotland could be more genuinely different in a way that is really just a big exaggeration when you’re talking about somewhere as small as England.

I've been back in Scotland for 8 years now after living in Cyprus for 10 and tbh I've been pleasantly surprised by the weather. It does help loving on the east (and having a cozy coat in January and February) but we've had some amazing spells of weather and it often doesn't get cold til after Halloween. Many a time we've been out guiding without a need for coats. During the first lockdown the sun shone from the start right up until September. We got our puppy in April and I spent most of the spring and summer worried she was going to overheat. She didn't experience rain til the autumn. We camped a lot of the summer and was woken by 4.30am by the sun turning the tent in to a sweat box 😖. Last year was also a great summer. So far this year has been a slow starter and unusual in that we had the odd nice day but no prolonged nice weather til now as spring is often amazing in the east coast and June can see the best weather. It does appear to be making up for it now though with steady mid to high 20 temps and just because atm it says next weekend is colder and raining doesn't mean it will be the case. The forecast changes frequently here and any rain can be very localised. Real feel Temperatures are affected hugely by the strength and direction of the wind so 20c can feel either freezing or roasting depending on that 😆. Judging by the amount of people taking to mumsnet to whinge the second it passes 23 down your way it seems you are not necessarily in the majority in loving it . At least here we embrace our summers. The mere hint of warmth and sunshine and the parks are full of burnt jolly people and the smell of bbqs

about biting winds in May and ,terrible holidays in Wales etc .
@x2boys
Well that has been my experience also, not dramatic just how it is.
I would never bother with a holiday in Wales,after a week where it poured every single day.
Torrential rain.
Of course it rains everywhere, its more likely in certain areas and my leave is precious so I will go to areas where generally weather is better.
Off paddleboarding after work-Ill cope 😎

Tbf I went to Cyprus for a week in April a couple of years back and it rained every day. It was warmer and sunnier in Edinburgh that week Sometimes you're just unlucky.

I'm in Yorkshire and it's been very hot lately. 27 today and next week is meant to be 34 on Monday. When I lived in London I didn't notice it being particularly hotter than here.

I bet people in eg Italy would say the same to you OP!

I think a lot of posters are missing the point. It is lovely right now, but in general it is warmer in London and the home counties. There are pockets of micro climates everywhere, and a lot of people are forgetting that altitude and rural vs urban make a difference.

We are 550 ft above sea level in a village surrounded by fields, and in this weather it is always 2 or 3 degrees cooler than our nearest city (Sheffield).

I was quoting the Op but tbh sometimes you are just unlucky with weather wherever you are in the UK, we went to Angelsay in late September a few years ago and the weather was glorious, similarly people complain if it rains in Cornwall and Devon ,you can, t guarantee the weather anywhere in the UK.

Yeah but warmer doesn’t equal sunnier. Hot and overcast is just oppressive. And London has more rain than the north east - would the OP really prefer a rainy 10 degree day to a bright 5 degree one?

It was 27 here yesterday and looks as though it will be the same today.
I love having different temperatures and weather, and walking in the rain. I always think fairweather people are exactly as the term suggests.

Fair enough, it happens.
Its more likely to rain in Wales though .

🤣🤣🤣

But the OP said it's a FACT! so it must be true. All is stupid northerners saying otherwise must be silly and thick.

9pm at lochearn around 23 degrees on Saturday night we coped just fine 😉

It happens that there is a south east heatwave. There’s not normally such a disparity between north and south of England. I’m a southerner who now lives in the north and regularly check the forecast out of curiosity. It’s usually only 2 degrees difference between London and the north.

I'm from and live in Yorkshire but lived in London for 10 years. I also go to Scotland a lot as have family there.

The op sounds like she's not very well travelled in the UK as I don't think you can extrapolate much a couple of rainy weekends outside the m25.

I think there's a lot of regional variation in the UK that isn't just north /south... For example Cornwall is further south than London but had some hideous weather in height of summer. Also the east and west UK can be quite different (gulf stream? The pennines?!) We often get lovely weather may half term on west coast Scotland.

Much of the hotter temps in the SE is around London due to pollution /heat island from all the buildings which isn't ideal.

Tbh I don't notice a massive difference living between the North and South except for the extremes of hot in summer and cold in winter. I love the sun and we have some fab weather up north but its much more pleasant to commute at 26 degrees than 30. The really hot days are lovely for relaxing but crap for actually living your life so I don't miss that at all.

Plus we have proper snow in winter and my dc can sledge down our road which I only saw once in London.

What I'm trying to say is that we're not all wearing parkas in July north of Watford.

Yesterday parts of Scotland hit over 29c, today there are predictions of 26 in places where as London is forecast high of 30 so even with a south east heatwave it's not that much different

Did a cursory search and first one that came up was this

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2960710-To-ask-if-the-weather-is-really-nicer-down-south

Unanimous from northerners or ex northerners that the weather is very different in the south - warmer, sunnier and milder winters.

has it changed much since 2017? The difference less? Genuine question!

Probably the wrong time to post this OP! In the middle of a nationwide heatwave.

Maybe when normal summer recommences…

Edinburgh lass, prefer the milder weather as less animals suffering the heat/forced to walk on scalding hot pavements.

Although this one from northerners in 2021 would suggest that any change would have occurred in last few months of it did happen!

But my post was about this coming weekend

when in south it’s early thirties and sun all day
and pushing 18 and grey all day in Inverness

and my question was to the to the sun lovers to ask how you fared?

but it has really annoyed people 😐

Clearly your determined that anywhere outside of London is just a vast grey miserable wildrness,with only very fleeting warm days .

my search was “weather north”!

I don’t think it has changed. It’s very unusual to have 30 degrees up North. I lived there for 18 years and I couldn’t cope with the climate. I visit lots and it’s always cooler up there.

At the moment all the bad weather is forgotten as we’re having a warm spell. My brother lives up there and he’s normally always moaning about how shit the weather is.

It’s fine if you like low 20s/high teens though most of the summer. But I like much warmer.

It’s unusually hot everywhere in the U.K. at the moment.