Weather

The weather is a favorite topic here in the UK. It changes often very quickly, and the western location of the British Isles means that they get all the rainy stuff from the Atlantic first, before it hits the rest of Europe.

When I arrived here 3 years ago in September, it had been quite warm and sunny, very little rain indeed. Also the following summer was quite pleasant. But the following two summers did not really deserve that name: in 2007 the summer was the wettest in history (based on weather records dating back more than 300 years). Widespread flooding has caused a lot of damage to many houses. And this year, there had not been a single really hot day (at least I cannot remember any). Frequent rain, sometimes for several days. Also quite cold, at least relative cold compared to the usual moderate temperatures. In the past few weeks there had been night temperatures down to 3C, which is very unusual. This had also the effect that this year the autumn leaves of the trees are more colorful, as the cold temperature caused the production of more sugar in the leaves, and that creates more colorful foliage (at least that is how I think it works). The effects can already be seen, as some trees show nice yellow and red leaves, instead of the usual simple browning-and-fading-away coloring.

There have been periods of nice weather too, bright sky, with its northerly light-blue shine. Not too bad afterall.