Your Location For Weather

[Zenarcher]

Hi everyone I thought I would make a topic where you can tell everyone whats good and bad about your location for weather events.

For mine being on a island things are a little different to most places we get the wind right off the Atlantic Ocean this means every winter we record wind speeds over 90mph sometimes over 100mph. Temperatures are mild through the winter we can reach -2c or -4c but nothing else, in the summer we can reach 20c to 25c at midday for a few hours however this is very rare and we normally reach at least 20c. We don't get much rain either compared to most places it never floods we don't even have any drains. We did have 1 drain but it got removed because there was no need for it. As you can imagine snow isn't a great thing for us but because we are up north and when the wind blows north we can get a wind chill of -16c meaning a good layer of snow can lay on the ground for a few days. You think your bad for thunderstorms? I haven't had one since 2007 they are very rare for my area.

So whats your place like for certain weather conditions?

Edited July 26, 2010 by weathermaster

[Nick L]

Good - Harsh frosts in winter, good position for "battleground" situations for snow

Bad - Can get really quite warm in summer, rarely any strong winds, very difficult to get decent snow showers due to being so far inland

[conor123]

Good - Providing the right wind direction can get Cheshire Gap snow streamers in the winter sometimes, good for battleground snow situations here to.

Bad - Always seems to be the cloudiest place in the Midlands in the summer, north westerlies like the current one are a cloud magnet for here.

[Bottesford]

Good - can get hot weather in summer, generally less rainfall than further north and west, not as prone to sea cloud as further east

Bad - North Sea low cloud - the bane of winter & early spring, generally little snowfall and never the coldest place in winter, less warm & generally cloudier than further south east in summer.

Essentially being so central we get the average of what you guys get further north, south, east and west of us!

[johnholmes]

nice summation for the donny area Botty, apart from the rain shadow effect from the Peak and Pennines that we get.

[Thundery wintry showers]

The five locations that I've lived in:

Cleadon

Good: gets relatively sunny winters, prone to dramatic convective snowfalls from north and east winds

Bad: cool cloudy summers with little in the way of convective activity (only 7 days per year with thunder), often cold winds off the sea

Lancaster

Good: gets relatively sunny springs & early summers, relatively high frequency of convective precipitation, usually sunny when east winds blow

Bad: tends to be very sleety during cold snaps, cloudy wet autumns & winters, convective events tend to be weak (only 8 days per year with thunder)

Leeds

Good: cold winters by UK standards, relatively warm summers, relatively high convection frequency and fairly high thunder frequency (average 12 days per year)

Bad: doesn't get dramatic convective snowfalls in winter due to being well inland, sunshine no higher than the national average

Exeter

Good: sunny all year round by UK standards, especially in spring, has pleasantly warm summers, high frequency of convective precipitation

Bad: Very mild, normally snowless winters (except for the last two), convective events tend to be weak (only 8 days per year with thunder)

Norwich

Good: sunny by UK standards in the summer half-year, prone to dramatic convective snowfalls from the north and east, one of the UK's thunderstorm hotspots (average 16 days per year), often warm in the summer half-year but without the consistent oppressive heat that London sometimes gets, large temperature variability by UK standards

Bad: westerly spells in winter can be very tedious as East Anglia is about as sheltered from the west as it gets. Can be very dull, cool and damp when north-easterly winds blow.

Hence why I regard Norwich to have the best weather overall out of the places I've lived, but Leeds was a strong second, with Exeter a fairly distant third and Cleadon & Lancaster sharing last place.

[Backtrack]

Good - Probably the best place in the UK for any sort of convection from the Irish sea. Generally a very warm place in summer, warmer than Liverpool and Manchester. We don't generally get lots of rain. Rain coming from the East generally gets eaten by the Pennines. Rain from the South/southwest gets eaten by the welsh mountains. Snow streamers and snow showers seem to hit here alot. Good for battleground snow. Cools off quickly at night.

Bad - Warms up quickly in winter at times because of the influence of the Irish sea. We don't generally get much in the way of snow from Easterlies. Irish sea can boost up night time temperatures. Temps can fluctuate alot at night depending on the wind direction. Very cloudy depending on the wind direction. Warmer than inland on a winters day (75% of the time). Warmer at night than further east (70% of the time).

[Mesoscale]

Good: We do get some snow during most winters as i live ontop of a hill, Pretty good for convective activity with 14 days of thunder a year plus we sometimes get storms that are stronger because of Urban Heat Island effect when the storms go over london and intensify. We can get Spanish Plume events.

Bad: it can get very hot in the summer, its pretty hazey most days. We dont get many very windy days i love a good gale so thats bad!

[Costa Del Fal]

Stourbridge & North Worcestershire area:

Good: When the conditions are right we are usually a good place for snow and thunderstorms (Thunderstorms have been rubbish lately though!). We enjoy many very warm and hot days in the summer. Most summers experience at least 30c. Temperatures are rarely very low. Compared to places further North and West we seem to miss out on an awful lot of rainfall and usually end up with very little. Amounts probably not far off those in the East. Our position means we can get very good sunshine amounts due to good distance away from the cloud plagued East at times and the mountains to the west decay cloud and rain.

Bad: Maybe just due to the position of our house, strong winds are very very rare. Squall lines are our best chance usually. The lack of rain can be an issue sometimes. This summers lack of rain is already killing our grass and some plants. Sometimes we closely miss out on exciting weather events making things frustrating but if we get the right set up we can get the full hit at times.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Blizzards

[Methuselah]

Not at all bad, I'd say...

Winter's not as severe as Inverness, but snow can fall aplenty in favourable conditions. Far warmer in the summer and with a distinct lack of 'lazy' winds. Nighttime heat takes some acclimatization to, though...

BUT - where are my storms!!

[Azores Hi]

East Kent.

Good:

Good chance of snow in winter in a NE wind, SW gales can mean the we experience some high winds. Generally dry in summer with a good number of hot spells and a good chance of importing storms from France.

Bad:

Not much, generally poor at producing home grown storms but I reckon we are in quite a favorable spot when it comes to variable weather!

[TonyH]

Good variety here in mid-west Wales.

Although we can get decent heat (33c in 2006), it is usually brief compared with further east. Largely we escape the very warm, sticky nights that they get in Coventry for example. This July is an example of being too far west for any decent Summer weather. Late Spring and early Autumn can be very Summer-like with prolonged warmth and sunshine quite likely in both May and September.

We are in quite a good spot for Winter cold and snow being at reasonable altitude (122masl), and far enough from the coast (12 miles). Most Winters get decent snowfalls (3 inches or more) which can stick quite well. Our village is in a bit of a frost hollow too, next to a tributary of the river Teifi, itself less than a mile to the SE of here. This leads to notably cold nights, and -10c is not at all unusual, and last Winter managed -16.7c (the coldest I have experienced in the UK).

Our speciality though is rain! 1300mm a year is quite enough to satisfy such a pluviophile as myself. We experiece frequent and often heavy rainfall, fronts are usually active here and it can be monsoon-like during active Atlantic spells. Last November for example was outstanding delivering 12 inches, my wettest ever experienced month! We also catch showers fairly well here most times of the year, however we can be just close enough to the coast to miss those further inland on occasions given on-shore breezes in late Spring/ Summer. I particularly enjoy getting stuck under a shower streamer that provides one downpour after another for hours on end, often accompanied by hail. As with many parts of the country it has been very poor regarding thunderstorms in recent Summers, although we did get some good ones back in the mid 1990's while I was a student here, this area is nowhere near as productive as the Midlands.

Severe gales are fairly unusual around here, especially compared with the nearby coast where we can go to experience them more often should we wish. Being in a valley we do see thick fog from time to time, but fortunately are not at altitude enough for that dismaying and constant hill fog.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Tonyh

[Stargazer]

Reading:

Good: dry by UK standards, nice warm summers with a few days exceeding 30 deg C most years, severe winter weather is unusual (but the area did manage to get one of the highest snowfall totals in lowland England last winter)

Bad: can get long periods of very little weather - cloudy and dry with little change, lack of wind and high humidity in high summer can be uncomfortable. This often leads to high levels of pollution too.

Southampton:

Good: moderate rainfall by UK standards and definitely sunnier than average, spring and summer can be very pleasant with a little extra breeze making it more comfortable.

Bad: can be very wet in autumn and winter; while the rest of the country gets snow Southampton often gets cold rain with bits of sleet.

[RichardR]

Buxton, Derbyshire:

Good: NOTHING

Bad:

1) Colder than almost any other English location consistently through the year due to its elevation.

2) Receives over 50 inches of rain, a lot of it induced by the local topography

3) For the same reason as above, it is notably cloudy at any time of the year, with about 1,200 hours sunshine a year

4) Cold, icy winters.

[Radiating Dendrite]

Buxton, Derbyshire:

Good: NOTHING

Bad:

1) Colder than almost any other English location consistently through the year due to its elevation.

2) Receives over 50 inches of rain, a lot of it induced by the local topography

3) For the same reason as above, it is notably cloudy at any time of the year, with about 1,200 hours sunshine a year

4) Cold, icy winters.

Wow.......I think you need to move

[AderynCoch]

Good - relatively sunny being on the coast, and the area is probably the driest part of the west coast due to the shelter provided by the Welsh mountains to the southwest. Also usually a pretty decent summer location, doing well from heat being drawn up from the south-southeast (in which direction there are few geographical barriers).

Bad - terrible place for snow. We're normally either too mild (the coastal factor again) or too dry (the Pennines tend to take the oomph out of easterlies, and northerlies usually have to navigate through Scotland and Cumbria). Sea-breezes can sometimes occur in summer and are highly annoying when they do, not to mention how we always get screwed whenever a NW-SE split rears its ugly head.

[Paul Sherman]

Anyone else feel like slitting their wrists when they read one of RichardR's Posts or is it just me

Anyhow Glorious Sunny Essex.

Good : Can get Record Breaking Snowfalls when the fabled ENE Wind comes straight from Russia with Love. Biggest Snowfalls have been 28cm Level with 20 foot drifts (See 1987 & 1991) Also can rarely gets Frosts in the warmer winters, Palm Trees a plenty down here.

Long Hot Summers with barely any rain in the months of June, July, August and September. Autumn only really starts in Mid to Late October. June 2010 Rainfall is 35mm and July to date is 22mm.

Average Rainfall between 350mm & 550mm - Very rarely gets above 700mm in a year making it the driest part of the country pretty much once every 3 years.

Can get Imported Multicell Thunderstorms from France mostly when the Wind is from the SE or South, these can go on for 6 or more hours.

Bad : Gardens can become dead by Late June due to Frontal Rains dying out before it gets to Essex.

We are always Protected when Snow Showers have any Westerly element in them, even a Straight Northerly has to blow with a near gale for us to get any accumalations.

Do not get affected by Summer Thunderstorms when the wind is from the SW.

In summary not a bad climate, getting affected more by the Continental Climate in Summer than most and can get quite big Snowfalls when the synoptic set-up is correct.

Sunshine rivals the best figures in the country also.

Paul S

Edit: Sunshine upto 26/07 = 1,127 Hours

And Rainfall upto 26/07 = 301mm

[Turnedoutniceagain]

I sit the top of a 200mt+ escarpement. The land rises sharply from the Vale of Red Horse up to Edgehill in the space of about 100mts. Consequently, we're swathed in fog, when people on the plain below are sunbathing !!

Just by looking at the temp' reading in the car, we're nearly always 2c colder than either Banbury or Stratford (9-10 miles in either direction). Plenty of snow !!

[Terminal Moraine]

Good; Plenty of snow, if the synoptics are right, with an elevation of 330 mts

Fog; loads of it due to low cloud. In 34 years of records there hasn't yet been a month with no fog at all

Rain; 20-30% wetter than the surrounding lowlands due to the orographic effect

Low maxima; Again the elevation does the trick, 2-4c colder by day than the lower ground

Gales; Usually quite frequent in winter, sometimes severe.

Thunder; not too many overhead storms but with the Trent valley within hearing distance it's at least fairly frequently heard.

Bad; Rain; Not as wet as Buxton, we're just a bit too far south east

Low minima; Cold air drains away into the valleys. Early and late frosts are rare and during temperature inversions in winter or late autumn the nights can be 5 or 6 degrees warmer here than lower down

[damianslaw]

Good - Late Spring Early Summer can be glorious when we have high pressure just to our north or north east - dry easterlies providing abundant sunny skies and early summer warmth, under such conditions the Lake District can be stunning.

Generally a highly variable location for weather, one day is often quite different to the next - showery north westerlies in particular can bring four seasons in one day type weather.

Can recieve hefty bouts of snow when fronts engage cold air at the surface and become slow moving or when we have very unstable arctic air driven on a slightly north westerly airstream the added heat from the Irish Sea tends to pep up the showers and the mountains even more so - last december being a case in point.

Cold highs directly overhead and arctic northerlies in the winter bring bitter nights with frost lingering all day and sparkling skies -superb!

Bad - The rain, we are one of the wettest spots in the country after Ambleside officially the wettest town in England. Atlantic westerlies are miserable bringing endless cloud and rain all year round.

Can get preety strong winds and gales when atlantic lows sweep to our north west.

South westerly airstreams bringing mild mucky misty drizzly weather the worst type of weather at any time of year.

More generally too little sunshine and never particularly very warm weather in the summer - exceptions do occur like 1995 but they are rare - this July we are still waiting for 21 degrees!

[coldfingers]

Buxton, Derbyshire:

Good: NOTHING

Bad:

1) Colder than almost any other English location consistently through the year due to its elevation.

2) Receives over 50 inches of rain, a lot of it induced by the local topography

3) For the same reason as above, it is notably cloudy at any time of the year, with about 1,200 hours sunshine a year

4) Cold, icy winters.

I thought it was good for spring water!

Here is good for sunshine and a dry summer and really, really bad for snow, ice and frost..

Very good for cooling breezes in the summer and extremely good for South-westerly gales in the winter.

Edited July 29, 2010 by coldfingers

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Buxton, Derbyshire:

Good: NOTHING

Bad:

1) Colder than almost any other English location consistently through the year due to its elevation.

2) Receives over 50 inches of rain, a lot of it induced by the local topography

3) For the same reason as above, it is notably cloudy at any time of the year, with about 1,200 hours sunshine a year

4) Cold, icy winters.

Sounds blissful to me !!!

[Pennine Ten Foot Drifts]

Been here 10 years, the first thing I noticed was the wind, there's barely a day goes by at any time of year when there isn't at least a nagging breeze, and when it's stormy it can be pretty severe, (hence why I don't share others' enthusiasm for deep depressions). Similarly the temperatures are always a few degrees down on even what is being recorded down in the valley bottoms in the local area, (and coupled with the usual breeze it's not often that sitting outside for any length of time is on the agenda). And of course up here in the hills it is a bit wetter and cloudier, it's sometimes a bit of a downer looking east towards lowland Yorkshire (on a good day the view is 50+ miles in that direction) seeing much brighter weather whilst up here it's cloudy, windy and wet. But of course on the plus side, in winter if there's any snow around we'll probably get some, it sticks much more readily and stays longer, and when the set up is right, we can get some excellent dumpings, both from westerlies and easterlies. So, mustn't grumble !

[Marcus_surfer]

It's said Swansea is the wettest city in the UK, I'm not sure if thats true but it seems we can't go one week without getting rain. Temperatures in the summer here are fairly mild, with Mumbles being the warmest spot during the whole year...temperatures rarely get down to 0C even in winter. In summer, temperatures can stay at a constant 17C in the day and 17C in the night on Mumbles Head. Heat in Swansea is fairly rare, with most summer days reaching 20-26C. Occasionally 28-30C is recorded. Thunderstorms do occur here every year, and i have seen some fairly Moderate storms on occasion, with torrential rain and gusty winds. Most thunderstorms that do occur in Swansea are fairly weak though, but we do get away with seeing one every year.

Winter in Swansea is tending to be drier than summer at the moment. Last winter i remember mumbles head reading -3C which is extremely cold for right on the coast. There was over 1 foot of snow in a week - which is rare for this area. Apart from the very cold winter last year, most winters Swansea does see some kind of snowfall every year...even if its just a few flakes. There has been some very good decent snowfalls over the past 10 years here.

Winds are always strongest on Mumbles again, with winds reaching up to 80mph+ on recent occasions. The highest gust i have seen recorded on Mumbles head is around 98mph a few years back. Winds are mostly southwesterly that bring the cloud and rain. If we get easterly winds, Snow Showers that do occur sometimes never make it here because its blocked by the Brecon Beacons. Northwesterly winds can deliver us good snow showers and streamers off the irish sea.

Overall, the weather here isnt too bad, not too boring or too exciting, but we do see different types of weather throughout the year.

Edited July 30, 2010 by Marcus_surfer

[J10]

Good :- Summer is generally much drier than winter, and it is not uncommon for not much rain during a summer month, June this year being a prime example. In recent years, May and June have been generally warm and dry, and largely bright or sunny. This year of course is looking very dry and despite another wet July, it is possible that we get closer to 750mm, rather than 1000mm. Sunshine amounts are higher than most northern parts of the UK, but generally less sunny than South Eastern England.

As for heat, it can get hot, but wind direction is very important, South Westerly as pointed out is no good, it is generally warm in the summer, especially away from the coast and low to mid 20s are common, over 30c is very unusual. It can easily get much warmer even a few miles inland.

Surprisingly we do tend to get quite a lot of snowfall here, generally on winds from a NNW direction, and moderate snowfalls of 4-5 inches have been common in recent years, however the coastal effect does mean that lying snow does tend to thaw quicker than some other areas.

Bad :- We do tend to get large amounts of rain with over 1000mm most years, but that is a lot less than many parts of Wales. It is not uncommon for over 100mm of rain in a winter month. Some recent Julys have been very wet. It does seem that July 2006 did spoil us somewhat.

When South Westerly winds blow, it can get very misty and murky,and living on top of a hill, visibility is often below 150m. This can happen through the year but more especially during winter.

Other: As mentioned above, it does get very windy here, and during an unsettled spell, over 10-15 days of gales in succession is not unusual.

In summary, mild wet winters with decent snowfalls, with warm and dryish summers.