History UsefulNotes / BritishWeather

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Denmark, the Baltics and parts of Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

British summer is a bit hard to define; Brits consider anything over 14 degrees Celsius (57-58 Fahrenheit) quite pleasant, and anything over 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) pretty hot, with anything over 25 degrees (77 Fahrenheit) usually considered quite uncomfortable, since it's often accompanied by high humidity. In all seriousness, it rarely goes over 30 degrees (once or twice a year perhaps) and until 2022 with a record-breaking 40.3C reading had ''never'' gone over 40 (the previous U.K. record was 38.5 degrees in Kent in 2003). The best weather in Britain is considered "cricket and strawberries" weather, and it's almost guaranteed that at least one UsefulNotes/{{British newspaper|s}} is going to have photographs of [[MaleGaze bikini-clad sunbathers]] and [[WalkingShirtlessScene people without shirts strolling around wearing shorts]]. If it goes over 35 degrees, the yellower press will start issuing [[MediaScaremongering horror stories]] about heat stroke, UV rays, and how the entire country is going to melt or die of thirst in a Biblical-scale drought. (Australians find all this rather amusing, given that their country can get ''really'' hot.)

Houses in Britain, unlike those towards the Mediterranean, are heavily insulated and designed to keep heat in, and very few residential properties have air conditioning, given that it would be a significant investment for something that will probably only be in use for a couple of weeks per year, and some years not even ''that''. This means that during heatwaves, where the UK can have temperatures on a par with continental Europe, the population has to cope with high temperatures but without the infrastructure and tools other countries have to help manage this.

Of course, this is where climate change rears its ugly head, as British seasons are getting slightly but noticeably more extreme each year. 2010 saw a snowfall so severe that schools were shut and motorways blocked for several consecutive days. 2022 saw ten Britishers die in a heatwave that swept most of Europe (with over 4000 tragic deaths across the continent.) This, of course, is of no import to older folk, who will almost always remember something similarly bad WhenIWasYourAge.

In other words, there's a reason "The weather in London" used to be a meme on Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

Of course, this is where climate change rears its ugly head, as British seasons are getting slightly but noticeably more extreme each year. 2010 saw a snowfall so severe that schools were shut and motorways blocked for several consecutive days. This, of course, is of no import to older folk, who will almost always remember something similarly bad WhenIWasYourAge (and the winters of 1947 and 1963 and 1979 '' and 1981-82'' were all notoriously cold and snowy, so they ''might'' have a point).

British summer is a bit hard to define; Brits consider anything over 14 degrees Celsius (57-58 Fahrenheit) quite pleasant, and anything over 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) pretty hot, with anything over 25 degrees (77 Fahrenheit) usually considered quite uncomfortable, since it's often accompanied by high humidity. In all seriousness, it rarely goes over 30 degrees (once or twice a year perhaps) and has ''never'' gone over 40 (the U.K. record is 38.5 degrees in Kent in 2003). The best weather in Britain is considered "cricket and strawberries" weather, and it's almost guaranteed that at least one UsefulNotes/{{British newspaper|s}} is going to have photographs of [[MaleGaze bikini-clad sunbathers]] and [[WalkingShirtlessScene people without shirts strolling around wearing shorts]]. If it goes over 35 degrees, the yellower press will start issuing [[MediaScaremongering horror stories]] about heat stroke, UV rays, and how the entire country is going to melt or die of thirst in a Biblical-scale drought. (Australians find all this rather amusing, given that their country can get ''really'' hot.)

British summer is a bit hard to define; Brits consider anything over 14 degrees Celsius (57-58 Fahrenheit) quite pleasant, and anything over 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) pretty hot, with anything over 25 degrees (77 Fahrenheit) usually considered quite uncomfortable, since it's often accompanied by high humidity. In all seriousness, it rarely goes over 30 degrees (once or twice a year perhaps) and has ''never'' gone over 40 (the U.K. record is 38.5 degrees in Kent in 2003). The best weather in Britain is considered "cricket and strawberries" weather, and it's almost guaranteed that at least one UsefulNotes/{{British newspaper|s}} is going to have photographs of [[MaleGaze bikini-clad sunbathers]] and [[WalkingShirtlessScene people without shirts strolling around wearing shorts]]. If it goes over 35 degrees, the yellower press will start issuing [[YouCanPanicNow horror stories]] about heat stroke, UV rays, and how the entire country is going to melt or die of thirst in a Biblical-scale drought. (Australians find all this rather amusing, given that their country can get ''really'' hot.)

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Canada, Russia, Denmark, the Baltics and parts of Sweden, Norway and Finland -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Canada, Russia, the Baltics and parts of the Nordic countries -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Canada, Belarus, Russia, the Baltics and parts of the Nordic countries -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Canada, Belarus, Russia, and parts of Northern Europe -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

British summer is a bit hard to define; Brits consider anything over 14 degrees Celsius (57-58 Fahrenheit) quite pleasant, and anything over 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) pretty hot. In all seriousness, it rarely goes over 30 degrees (once or twice a year perhaps) and has ''never'' gone over 40 (the U.K. record is 38.5 degrees in Kent in 2003). The best weather in Britain is considered "cricket and strawberries" weather, and it's almost guaranteed that at least one UsefulNotes/{{British newspaper|s}} is going to have photographs of [[MaleGaze bikini-clad sunbathers]]. If it goes over 35 degrees, the yellower press will start issuing [[YouCanPanicNow horror stories]] about heat stroke, UV rays, and how the entire country is going to melt or die of thirst in a Biblical-scale drought. (Australians find all this rather amusing, given that their country can get ''really'' hot.)

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Canada, Belarus, Russia, the Baltics and parts of the Nordic countries -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

The British Isles are actually quite far north -- at the same latitude as Canada, Belarus, Russia and parts of Northern Europe -- but it rarely sees extreme weather in either direction, because the Gulf Stream comes in over the Atlantic from the southwest, moderating the colder air from the north, so it never gets that cold. Commentators might point out that without the Gulf Stream, London should be as cold as [[CanadaEh Winnipeg]].[[note]]The real pedants would argue equally strongly that Winnipeg should be as warm as London, except there's a huge swathe of tundra between it and the North Pole, so the wind from the north has no natural barriers at all.[[/note]] The high latitude and the prominent ocean winds mean it never gets that hot either. But the Gulf Stream also brings rain and storms with it, hence all the rain.

British winter also tends to be mild. Snow can happen, but it's uncommon, and any significant amount of snow (by which we mean about an inch and a half) in most parts of the country will grind it to a halt, particularly in the cities and on the railways, and the news coverage will report breathlessly on it. Heavy snow is somewhat more common in Scotland, but not by much. All of this, of course, does not prevent British [[UsefulNotes/AVeryBritishChristmas Christmas cards, decorations, and illustrations]] from being full of pretty snow and snowmen. A phenomenon more indicative of the British relationship with snow can be seen in ''Series/DoctorWho''; whenever it snows, there's generally an alien involved, and they're usually up to no good.