Climate

The topic which never fails to start any conversation in Britain is weather. "We have no climate, only weather" may be heard from an Englishman. And it is generally believed that England experiences weather rather than climate, because of its extreme variability. Periods of settled weather are rare. One day may be different from the next and predication cannot be made for more than a very short time ahead. Sunshine can rapidly change to rain, winds can alter their direction abruptly.

Nevertheless, Britain has a generally mild and temperate climate, milder than the climate in any other country in the-same latitudes (50"—60°). It is due to the influence of the warm current of Gulf Stream.

Britain is as far north as Canada's Hudson Bay or Siberia. Edinburgh is 56° north of the equator, the same latitude as Moscow, yet its climate is much milder. Edinburgh and London enjoy the same temperatures in winter because of Gulf Stream, which brings warm water and air across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, snow only falls occasionally and does not remain for long, except in the Scottish mountains, where skiing is possible.

Though the climate is subject to frequent changes extremes of temperature are rather few. Average temperatures in England and Wales vary from 4 °C in January to 16 °C in July and August. In Scotland averages are one or two degrees cooler. During a normal summer, the temperatures occasionally rises above 27 °C in the south, but temperature of 30—32 C° and above are infrequent. Extreme minimum temperatures depend largely on local conditions, but —7 °C may occur on a clear winter's night, —12°Cis rare, and —18°C or below has been recorded only during exceptionally cold periods.

The prevailing winds are south-westerly. Winds are generally stronger in the north than in the south of the British Isles, stronger on the coasts than inland, and stronger in the west than in the east. The strongest winds usually occur in winter. Occasionally during the winter months easterly winds may bring a cold, dry, continental type of weather which, once established, may persist for many days or even weeks. Winds may bring winter cold in spring or summer and sometimes whirlwinds or hurricanes. Droughts are rare.

The wind brings rain from the Atlantic to the hills of the west. This means that the western parts of Britain are wetter than the east, which is sheltered by the mountains. London is drier than continental cities such as Hamburg, for example. Its weather may be unpredictable, but it is not particularly wet. Generally, all parts of the British Isles get a lot of rain in all seasons.

The annual rainfall is about 1100 mm, the mountainous areas of the west and north having far more rain than the lowlands of the south and east. Rain is fairly well distributed throughout the year, but on average March to June are the driest months and September to January the wettest.

The distribution of sunshine over Britain shows a general decrease from the south to north, from the coast inland. The average daily duration of sunshine varies from 5 hours in the north-west Scotland to 8 hours in the Isle of Wight during the months of longest daylight (May, June, July). And during the months of shortest daylight — November, December and January — sunshine is at a minimum, with an average of half an hour a day in some parts of the Highlands of Scotland and two hours a day on the south coast of England.

So it may be said that the British climate has three main features: it is mild, humid and changeable. It means that it is never too hot or too cold. Winters are extremely mild, so that there are places in the south where people have never seen snow. Cornwall (a part of south-western England) is called British (or Cornish) Riviera as resemblance to the continental Riviera is impressive: the exceptionally mild climate which allows subtropical flowers and trees flourish, the sparkling blue sea, luxuriantly coloured landscape and yachting resorts. And there is Scottish Riviera — in the east of Scottish Highlands. The name is pardonable exaggeration for the Morey coast with many beaches of firm sand and red sandstone cliffs and fat cattle feeding on green pastures.

More suitable this name is to one of the most fascinating spots on the western coast of Scottish Highlands — the Inverewe Garden which possesses a constant element of surprise. The Inverewe Garden houses a wide variety of plants ranging from alpine to subtropical. The garden was created on poor soil from barren land just almost 150 years ago and it survives in a latitude that is further north than Moscow's because the area is warmed by the Gulf Stream. In 1862 Osgood Mackenzie began making a garden and building a house on a small peninsular with the Gaelic name Amploc Ard — "the high lump".

Дата добавления: 2015-09-03