Seems to have been endless rain and 16 degrees all summer from watching the weather forecast. Can anyone whose lived in Scotland and somewhere down South comment on the perceived difference?

i think it is worse in summer, makes up for it in winter tho

It's pissed it down for a couple of weeks but it was lovely and dry for weeks in the central belt before that.

Sounds about right. We're all peely-wally and wrapped up in furs all year.

Well, I was a regular visitor to Scotland for decades and can confirm that you would get 4 seasons' weather in one day! The West Coast is particularly wet.

Not quite Scotland but as a scouser who lived in Guildford for 18 months I can say the weather was very different. Guildford seemed to have many more clear sunny days, was hotter in summer and colder in winter with far more frost (due to not having the sea to moderate temp), Liverpool seems to get twice as many rainy days with loads of drizzle, which I didn't see too much of down south. Scotland from my experience is significantly colder, wetter and windier than the south.

This was the wet West Coast in April

It got worse in May and June was even poorer in the North West

July has been awful

Stay away – you'd hate it.

Not always a bad thing anyway, some of us prefer the rain…

aye it's shite stay away nothing to see or do here, if the cold disna get you the midges will.

😉

I knew people would post pics of great weather in Scotland. This isn't a north v south thread, I was just wondering what people thought of the contrast, and whether or not it's really noticeable. Purely curious, it won't change whether or not I go there 🙂

A mate of mine who lived in Inverness for a year (from the Midlands) did say it was much colder and more miserable, but he was only there for a year.

Inverness has its own very pleasant micro-climate.

druid – I was married to a Scot! Glasgow area could be pretty awful.

Just look up the stats – of course the weather is colder and wetter. I'd still like to live there though.

Can I do my "Wouldn't you rather be in London" photo now?

So far lived

East coast Scotland, cold, dry, sunny, never that warm.

West coast Scotland, cold, wet, cloudy, occaisonally warm and beautiful.

East Anglia, dry, sunny, warm, occaisonally cold and windy, sometimes hot, bloody flat.

North West England, cool, wet, cloudy, sometimes warm.

All above are generalisations, ie hose pipe ban in NW area now.

Warmest and mildest weather was south east, best weather was west of scotland.

They do have that unique horizontal rain, but other than that it's not bad!

Its a long country.

My folks live in the Borders, and I was watching the British Supers from Knockhill a couple of weeks ago – it was biblical weather.

Called them up, they were dry, sunny and windless – all of 50 miles away.

Once upon a time I moved to Linconshire, I found that it didn't rain and had no hills! I bailed out as quick as possible and came straight back home to the highlands and will never leave, watching the forecast it looks like we average about 10 degrees colder than down south and get more wind and rain, suits me, all character building stuff! I miss the foul weather if it gets nice for too long!
PJ.

Amen!

Some parts of Scotland are drier and sunnier than England. The weather is really quite variable over the UK.

However, the thing that really gets my goat is the difference in temperature. Must be at least 5C on average in the summer 🙁

The difference in the weather for the last 2 weeks has been even more pronounced. It has been really quite depressing.

As someone who moved from north england to the central belt a few years ago now I can confirm that it's **** all different, except in extremity. When it's sunny it's really sunny and stunning. When it's rainy its REALLY rainy. When it's cold it's remarkably cold. It's a proper climate, unlike the rather monotonous north English climate. It's certainly cooler than south england. But whenever we're having a fairly hefty storm it's rare for me to speak to my family (live in south england) and them not be hiding indoors from the rain too.

As above it's a long country.

There's the same sort of difference between the Brittany coast and the Med coast

in east anglia it hasnt been below 18-20 for about two months and has peaked at 32 on some days with min night temps of 15 on a cool one to 20 on a hot one.
mind you the hot nights get on my tits after a while,i just cant sleep well.

The weather is pretty good, but if it rains it can rain the whole day and night non stop. I just got used to changing weather, I'm not going to dies from a bit of rain and wind. But I have to say the summer is pretty good this year and way better than last year one. I don't like when it's too hot, I would melt in Warsaw as it's +41 there today (!!!). So +24-26 in Edinburgh recently is just about as hot as I want. When I went to see my GF in Warsaw during winter it was -17, so the winters here are not as extreme as well. I do love Edinburgh for great riding almost on my doorstep, weather just adds to the experience ;-), great views, don't really mind wind, if it wouldn't rain that much during winter it would be perfect but because it does it's just really really really good.

the uk is an island in an ocean unprotected from the south westerly gulf stream.
there is no expansive land mass protecting us as such.
dependant on lattitude, of course there's temperature variation, but being honest, the rule of thumb is warmer the further south you go and drier the further east you go.

mieszko – Member
The weather is pretty good, but if it rains it can rain the whole day and night non stop. I just got used to changing weather, I'm not going to dies from a bit of rain and wind. But I have to say the summer is pretty good this year and way better than last year one. I don't like when it's too hot, I would melt in Warsaw as it's +41 there today (!!!). So +24-26 in Edinburgh recently is just about as hot as I want. When I went to see my GF in Warsaw during winter it was -17, so the winters here are not as extreme as well. I do love Edinburgh for great riding almost on my doorstep, weather just adds to the experience ;-), great views, don't really mind wind, if it wouldn't rain that much during winter it would be perfect but because it does it's just really really really good.

Inland Scotland has just had its most severe winter since 62/63.

My lowest for the winter was -16C, so pretty close to your GF's minimum. Normally the winter minimum is around -8C.

Ho hum – Member
My lowest for the winter was -16C, so pretty close to your GF's minimum. Normally the winter minimum is around -8C.

I remember seeing (and feeling) temperatures of -13C in the morning on my way from work during winter here (7am) but it always got warmer during the day, almost always around or slightly above 0C. It was -17C in the afternoon in Warsaw (bit of a shock when it was +13 in Edinburgh on the same day), reaching -23 to -25C during the night 🙂

I'm not complaining, as I don't like extreme hot or cold temperatures. Weather here is probably as close to my perfect weather as it will ever be and million times better riding than in flat as a table Warsaw.

mieszko – Member

Ho hum – Member
My lowest for the winter was -16C, so pretty close to your GF's minimum. Normally the winter minimum is around -8C.

I remember seeing (and feeling) temperatures of -13C in the morning on my way from work during winter here (7am) but it always got warmer during the day, almost always around or slightly above 0C. It was -17C in the afternoon in Warsaw (bit of a shock when it was +13 in Edinburgh on the same day), reaching -23 to -25C during the night

I'm not complaining, as I don't like extreme hot or cold temperatures. Weather here is probably as close to my perfect weather as it will ever be and million times better riding than in flat as a table Warsaw.

Oh, I did not realise that -17C was a winter max!

One day here in early January I think that our max for the day was -6C. Cold, but not as cold as Warsaw.

I can confirm the south west of England is far wetter then the south east of scotland and the west of scotland is wetter than both having lived in all 3 locations

pissing it down on the east coast right now …

still warm though.

been living out of my pretty un insulated van for last 3 weeks without issue. Very comfy infact – too warm at times !

No it isn't! it's sunny!!

you live too far north Terry!

it is windy as **** tho. 😉

UK gets battered with a couple of heavy lows, big rainfall, the works. I go out on my bike round the woods for two hours (in the SE) and it's still perfectly clean. There are some (small) advantages to riding down here 🙂

It's windy and very very cold. I'm always cold living in Scotland 🙁

Weather suits me fine round Edinburgh way. Only real difference is the sun – it's out as much as down South, give or take, but it's just not the same. The type of blazing hot, cracking the flags summers day you get now and then in the SE is very rare here.

I don't miss the heat itself – those sort of days suck in our maritime climate IMHO, it's more missing the contrast (if that makes sense).

As a climatic refugee who has lived in Glasgow, London, Glasgow, Hampshire and now the Isle of Wight I would say that the main difference is, you get a summer down south, most years. A reliable, sustained spell of warm, dry weather. You don't really get that in Scotland at all most years. Maybe the odd benign spell in May or September.

Also, you get far more overcast days up there. That depressed the hell out of me when I moved back up the road. Just day after day, week after week, of flat, grey light – hardly ever seeing a patch of blue sky.

Edinburgh is one of the driest and sunniest parts of the UK.

Scotland is not homogeneous – it has different climatic zones all over the place.

No doubt Edinburgh is significantly drier and sunnier than Manchester where I used to live.

On the whole Scotland is around 2 Degrees centigrade cooler – which is a significant amount

Tj you missed out coldest for Edinburgh if the wind blows 8)

It's not raining in Edinburgh at the moment, hopefully it will hold up for motorcycling home through the lovely hills, that's as far forward as a forecast I ever worry about.

May and June in the Borders was glorious, July has been a bit shite, but I moved here from Ireland so my expectations are quite low 🙂

Grew up darn sarf which is definately warmer and drier but have no desire to go back

You can see from here that it is significantly colder, wetter and windier:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/ukmapavge.html

However, lots of other things make up for the weather!

The weather in Scotland is great – we gets lots of it 🙂

Old saying – no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate dress.

Anyway why worry about the weather when the real problem is those nanovampire midgies.