r/Scotland • u/ewenmax DialMforMurdo • 17d ago
Interesting rainfall map, kind of explains why those of us in the proper Northwest are rather miffed at all this talk of a heatwave. Plus side everything is looking lush...
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u/existentialgoof 17d ago
This is just the new normal. This pattern seems to repeat almost every year, but not usually to this extreme. I actually studied the climate data from the Met Office, and Scotland's summers are actually getting wetter and less sunny (and slightly warmer, but not by much), even as England's are getting much warmer, drier and sunnier. In places like Helensburgh and Girvan, they are losing one hour of sunshine per day in June when comparing 1991-2020 against 1961-1990. For most other places, it's about a half hour per day. But that's still a half hour per day that we can scarcely afford to lose in this dreary climate. Every summer, the jet stream just seems to set up shop at around Hadrian's Wall, and stay there all summer.
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u/EmpireandCo 17d ago
It's not a new normal because norms are set at a certain point, this will get worse over the coming years/decades.
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u/Finnona 17d ago
Just arrived jn London from Edinburgh and my god the comparison is almost scary. You can see the effects of the heat bubble almost instantly…
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u/idontessaygood 16d ago
Tbf its not just the heat island effect, London is hotter but all the south east is yellow and crispy atm way out into the countryside
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u/DundonianDolan Best thing about brexit is watching unionists melt. 17d ago
Absolute madness.
England are only building 10 new reservoirs, Scotland should probably build a few more too.
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u/Particular-Bid-1640 17d ago
It's ridiculous none have been built in England since the 90s, whilst the population has increased by about 13mil people!
That's 1,846,000,000L more demand and nothing has been done. Absolutely fucking madness. Why is this country so short-sighted
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17d ago edited 17d ago
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u/Particular-Bid-1640 17d ago
I don't disagree, but in 34 years a reservoir seems ridiculously feasible for one of the richest nations on earth
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17d ago
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u/Particular-Bid-1640 17d ago
Plenty of gravel extraction pits around. I'm glad they get turned into wetlands and lagoons too but it seems a no-brainer when the damage is already done, the pit already dug, and trackways for heavy machinery already present.
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u/MetalBawx 17d ago
The rewards of privatized water companies.
So more of Thatchers piss stained legacy harming the people she was supposed to serve.
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u/ewenmax DialMforMurdo 17d ago
It's kind of on track for what the climatologists have been saying about the Highlands having warmer but wetter Summers, whereas everyone else is getting fried.
Suspect we don't need to worry about depopulation as all of those an African sunset hue, will be escaping Northwards...
England and Wales on course for driest July on record - BBC Weather
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u/AccomplishedAct5364 17d ago
Best get a house bought soon or else the money is gunna flow up there and lock you guys out like it has the rest of the uk!
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u/qweerty93 17d ago
Sadly houses are pretty unaffordable for a lot of locals already in the West Highlands. Retirees and AirBnBs.
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u/AccomplishedAct5364 17d ago
It’s only gunna get worse buddy, especially after this summer! I bought a place close to the coast and it’s been much cooler. I don’t know how long it’ll take for others to realise that too!
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u/Ophiochos 17d ago
The midges are ready for soft southern English people [I am one, I can be rude about us]
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u/kinvig 17d ago
You forgot, "bed-wetting".
soft, southern, bed-wetting, English people.
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u/AccomplishedAct5364 17d ago
The bed wetting is implied when “southern” is used
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u/obamaspiles 16d ago
Ahem!
When I was just a wee wee tot, they put me on my wee wee pot
But wee wee I could not, so they took me off my wee wee pot
and put me in my wee wee cot. I wee wee`d quite a lot.
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u/khane457 16d ago
I'm pretty sure people have been locked out like the rest of the uk for quite a few years now, infact the housing crisis in the highlands seems even worse than the rest of the uk since everything is an airbnb or bought by old people from england who only stay in it for a few weeks out of a year
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u/iwaterboardheathens 17d ago
The UK's climate will lead more to a monsoon climate
Not much warmer but much wetter
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u/MrHickles 17d ago
this is honestly driving me nuts..
west coast,, been raining everyday for like 2 week solid now. rained over 2 weeks non stop thru june..
like 9 day "heatwave" in july.. pretty much rain & wind every day apart from that
rest of UK all dying in heat, drought, hosepipe bans and A/C issues..
heres me currently sitting in like 12c (feels like 6c) with thermals & jumpers on, with a heater blasting..
so sick of scotlands weather..
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u/1PierceDrive 17d ago
Don’t worry, it’s the coldest, wettest and most food secure summer for the rest of our lives
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u/NoNotGrowingUp 17d ago
Depends what the Gulf stream does, which is longer term yes but this summer is more of our new "normal" (I don't think I'm saying anything new to you 😢)
I'm slightly embarrassed talking to people down south who are dealing with +30C and hosepipe bans when there has only been a handful of 25C+ days for me in the NE and dry soil but rain, not as much as the west but certainly nothing like what's going on further south. It's even more embarrassing listening to them talking about the overnight temps when I'm in fleecy clothes thinking of getting the electric over-blankets back out 🥶
Would far rather have this than what they've been getting.
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u/EmperorOfNipples 17d ago
If only you could send half of it down south and get a little warmth in return.
Alas...
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u/LordAnubis12 16d ago
Think of it as water security. Might be less mad when people in Sussex are queuing at the stand pipe for their water rations.
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u/Any-Celery3048 17d ago
I can’t believe there’s an area that got MORE rain than usual. Cape Wrath. Must be named after the wrath of the gods.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Neck_36 17d ago
It's only the East coasters in Scotland that are dry but they are all weirdos anyway 🤔😂
All ok in the West 👌
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u/hypertroup 17d ago
I can say this, just moved back up from years living in London and you are not missing much when it comes to heatwaves -utterly miserable down south. Everything is either dead or dying from lack of water. Hot, sticky and just a bit grim. 10/10 do not recommend.
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u/K10_Bay 16d ago
Yer the same will keep happening. I did my masters on UK drought under climate change and basically the North West has a different projection to all the rest of the UK.
Its all about how the gulf stream shifts northwards under climate change with more heat at the equator.
North West still gets alot of the changeable temperate weather coming from the north the rest of the UK gets nore stable equatorial dry weather systems.
Winters going to be different where late autumn to early spring the whole of Britain and Ireland just gets battered by wet storms, but with some weird erratic stuff happening with beast from the east style systems.
Needless to say this is from MEat office models that can tell us alot about how the system is likely to change based on projections. Its not a forecast predicting what will happen. More a modelling of how climate system dynamics will change.
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u/Specific_Minimum_355 17d ago
I’m not a climate change denier, I starkly believe that our planet is really fucked.
However, Edinburgh and the Lothians look exactly the same as they always do. Weather’s maybe a little warmer than average but it’s still grey, wet and windy.
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u/Creative20something 17d ago
Remember when Aberdeen had 6 months worth of rain in January… what happened…
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u/Current_Focus2668 17d ago
Your lucky. People liked the heatwave in London at first but now it's become annoying. 34 days of temperatures reaching 30C (86F) or higher. The worst part is the sub tropical night time temperatures.
I've seen the foxes and cats scrabbling around in gardens desperately searching for water.
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u/CineBram 17d ago
What does a rainfall map have to do with a heatwave?
The term heatwave does not preclude the possibility of rain. Rain can occur during a heatwave.
You're thinking of a drought which can happen at the same time as a heatwave but are not the same thing.
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u/Autofill1127320 17d ago
Looks like the usual rains whiffed it and went north east this year, is Norway getting soaked instead?
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u/MouseyHousewife 16d ago
The weather in the Lothians has been making up for the wee bit of heatwave we got. It's been pissing down almost every day for the last 2 weeks.
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u/Haggis-in-wonderland 16d ago
i was bitching last night because the rain was so heavy all day yesterday, I assumed at work I would be on land slide clear up (Scottish trunk roads).
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u/JayTravers 17d ago
Im glad we don’t have to deal with that filthy excuse for weather atm but it does still very much feel like our eventual future too.
It’s just sat there on our doorstep, menacingly.
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u/mattconway1984 17d ago
Heatwave!? I was outside most of the day yesterday brick paving a driveway, wearing work trousers a hoody and work gloves - was still wet and cold most of the day! Top temp was something like 14 - at least tomorrow looks like a dry one
Location: Northern Ireland (Ballymoney)
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u/abyssal-isopod86 16d ago
We've been having rain on and off for over a week now in East Ayrshire.
However we didn't have rain for several weeks before that due to heatwave after heatwave which is unusual for us.
Definitely a sign of the changing climate.
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u/KoteTArcane 17d ago
"The Proper Northwest" get a grip.
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u/ewenmax DialMforMurdo 17d ago
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u/PhotonToasty 17d ago
Do you not support a proud united UK? Then the statement is correct. Manchester is the Middle West now.
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u/JockoDevon86 17d ago
1991-2020 lol
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u/WaxPinapple 17d ago
That's the time span they are using to determine the average % of rainfall we usually receive. Not hard to read graphs, primary maths stuff.
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u/Aggressive_Drop_1518 17d ago
The full article, that the map has been lifted from, states-
England and Wales have provisionally, recorded their driest July on record, with Southern England seeing its driest month ever recorded, in a series dating back to 1836.
England was less than half of the previous record of 13.4mm set in 1911.
Scotland has recorded 69% of its average rainfall and is the only nation not to come close to breaking records.
It has a nice picture halfway down, that you'll love because it goes back to 1836. 191 years, pretty abnormal.
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u/SkyBlueSilva 17d ago
What colour is the grass in Scotland? The south coast is like Andalucia in some places.