Nowhere else in the world is the weather talked about as much as it is in the British Isles. We’ve got a reputation of being the ones that ‘don’t half talk about the weather a lot’. Commenting on the weather is a quintessentially British pastime and the classic opening gambit for any human encounter. The ice breaker for any uncomfortable silence. Where would we be I wonder, if we (like so many of our foreign cousins) had ‘same old, same old’ weather patterns, day in, day out.
Some would even say our love of the weather is an obsession. Perhaps it’s more to do with the fact we’ve got one of the most changeable and unpredictable climates on the planet, perhaps it’s more to do with the essence of British culture.
Perhaps borne from this obsession, Britain has paved the way with weather forecasting. Pioneering many technologies and methodologies, often as a result of war time and aviation needs, the modern day weather forecast is the crowning glory of years of research and expertise and believe it or not, today it’s more accurate than it’s ever been.
Online weather forecasts and resources
If you’re planning a holiday in the UK, the weather is bound to be an important factor in your thoughts. At cottages4you, we’ve found the following links really helpful to us for getting the low down on our holiday destinations..
Something for the weekend?
The BBC Weather Centre website gives you a radar image of Britain, overlaid with predicted cloud, wind and rain (or hopefully, lack of!) patterns on an hour-by-hour basis. This is ideal if it’s Friday and you’re planning a weekend away and don’t know if you should pack your sou’wester or your flip flops.
2 weeks away
Metcheck offer a day-by-day forecast on the upcoming 2 weeks. Other features on this site include the BBQ Weather Forecast, for if you are planning the illusive fair weathered British Barbecue.
It’s better than this time last year..
WeatherOnline holds records of more than 4700 stations worldwide, so even if you don’t trust the weather forecasts you can use this site to see how the weather was this time in years gone by.
As a footnote, who can repute the enduring appeal of The Shipping Forecast. Four times a day BBC Radio 4 Longwave broadcasts this baffling roundup of the forecast from our coastal waters. This programme is deemed so important that it even gets away with interrupting another of Britain’s irrefutable conversational pastimes – the cricket.
MW
I believed this until I moved to Canada and am now convinced the Canadians are more weather obsessed than the Brits. I know of people who have The Weather Channel tuned in all day long. It is the opening topic of any conversation and usually starts with “Cold enough for you?”, “Hot enough for you?” or “Humid eh!” At least we know it will be freezing and snowy for 5 months of the year; hot and steamy for another 5 months, and spring and autumn just splits them up. Makes a cottage vacation in Ontario predictable.