WEATHER FORECASTING
It’s a frequent preoccupation with good reason. Jay Thundercliffe finds out what gives the west coast weather its character – and makes it so compelling
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ccurate or not, everyone has a notion of Scotland’s weather, and most will include rain or wind, maybe a bit of mist. They wouldn’t be too far wrong, but how right are they? Who knows? More importantly for getting around the region – who needs to know? Let’s start with the positive: Scotland’s climate is not nearly as bad as it might be. The Gulf Stream helps keep the west coast winters relatively mild – relative, that is, to places such as Moscow and Labrador in Canada on a similar latitude (on the minus side we get cooler, wetter summers than them). It tends to be slightly warmer on the west side of Scotland thanks to a milder Atlantic climate versus the chilly North Sea on the east. The west is wetter, though, thanks to those Highland hills. James Fletcher is UK Forecast Manager at StormGeo – a meteorological 44 The Guide to Scotland’s Islands
