Weather

Weather in the UK

England has got a bad reputation when it comes to the weather. It has been stereotyped as being cold, grey and rainy, but this is not an entirely accurate picture. Temperatures rarely get very cold or very hot, and while the country certainly gets rain, it's really not as wet as rumour has it. In fact, both Paris and New York have more rain per year than London.

The north is a lot wetter and windier than the south due to the cold moist air from the North Atlantic. However, England is subject to drastic weather change. It can be hot and sunny one moment and torrential rain the next. The song ‘Four Seasons in One Day’ was written with England in mind.

The coldest months are January and February, the latter particularly on the English coast, while July is normally the warmest month. Months with mild to warm weather with least rainfall are May, June, September and October.

The hottest recorded temperature was 38.5 °C and the coldest was -26.1 °C, so it could be a lot worse.

England went through a freak snow fall in December 2010, the heaviest on record. England can’t cope when it snows, and roads, rail links and airports were all closed down. It was utter chaos.

English people are said to have a passion for debating the weather: actually this is usually just an opening gambit to start a conversation with a stranger. If you ever run out of things to say, mention the weather...