To be fair it has been pretty awful weather here for the past couple of weeks.

As others have said it's a common misconception all over the world that it always rains in the UK, but it most definitely isn't true! It does vary by region and some areas see more rain than others. Where I live in the South East is generally the warmest and driest region in the country, and this summer just gone we were seeing daytime temperatures of 30-33 degrees C (90+ degrees F) for several weeks with very little rain. Peoples homes and a lot of public transportation in the UK typically don't have air conditioning either so you can imagine what that was like!

But yes, we are in winter time now so it is typically cold and wet, with fog not an uncommon occurance and even snow on high ground, particularly further North. It also gets dark much earlier this time of year which adds to the general feeling of dreariness!

Edited December 14, 20205 yr by Tom Wright

On 12/13/2020 at 11:58 AM, Tim_Capps said:

This is a tornado. (Murphysboro is still our county seat,) Cut right through Southern Illinois and two other states. We even learned what a derecho was a few years back--pretty much a hurricane that hit us hard. My poor MINI Cooper got a tree dropped on it. I had a vague awareness that "tornadoes can happen anywhere," but never heard of them in the UK. Huh.

The Tri-State Tornado is infamous and it was terrible.  Those of you not from the area...read about it, it may not happen again for 100 years.

That derecho hit us HARD in Cape Girardeau.  As I recall it was really Hurricane Rita.  Or maybe that was a different time.  Rita or Katrina came through with hurricane-force winds, kept strong by a front coming in at the same time.

In years past I have been to the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro.

44 minutes ago, Mace said:

That derecho hit us HARD in Cape Girardeau

Holy cow, that thing was huge, then! Didn't realize that. I was working in Belleville (Illinois side of St. Louis, MO) at the time and raced down to Carbondale as soon as I got the news (technically Makanda, and more specifically five acres in the middle of nowhere) and just before Murphysboro you could see the destruction start like a line had been drawn. Nearly all the roads were blocked with fallen trees. Power was out for days. Never seen anything like it. But people really pulled together. Everybody with a chainsaw or who could buy one instantly started to work clearing the roads. We don't wait for official help in Southern Illinois (some might call us rednecks). Cape is about an hour away. 17th Street is as open as ever, last I checked... which has been a while. About the Tri-State tornado, my mom was very small in West Frankfort, and she remembered seeing a neighbor's car upside down in their yard. There was still a tornado shelter at my grandparent's when I was growing up. Tornadoes, mine explosions, strikes and killing strikebreakers--West Frankfort (about 40 minutes north) where my parents grew up and Williamson county just south has seen a lot. I did a lot of murder trials in Franklin and Williamson counties... two or three near you in Cairo. It sounds horrible, but there were some very funny moments in those Alexander County trials... very small population, very poor, picking a jury was like, "Do you know the prosecutor?" "No, well, I nursed him when he was a baby." "No, but I dated him in high school." "No, but he's my cousin." We also had Tamms Supermax cases, almost all inmates flinging poo at guards. Everybody got tired of Tamms fast. Last execution in Illinois was there. Now it's abandoned. What a hell hole. The judges hated having to go there, and, for once, took it out on the prosecutors 🙂 Defense counsel was golden there. Do you happen to recall hearing about the assistant state's attorney in Alexander County? Sorry, getting far afield from weather, but Southern Illinois is sort of a package deal for me. Anyway, when it comes to weather, can't complain much unless a tornado or derecho happens, then it's a word not allowed.

8 hours ago, Tom Wright said:

with fog not an uncommon occurance

Don't know if an L1011 would be allowed to take off in fog so thick it was a trick to find the runway, but 1970s autoland, baby! Tune ILS on one side and CPT on the other, then SAM and you're off to LEMD or LEPA. Why Luton? Because taxiing is boring and it's fun turning a big airplane around at the end of the 7000 ft. runway to take off 🙂 (Nice Uk2000 airport, too.) But, yeah, it has been kind of funny since AS this time of year.

6 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

Don't know if an L1011 would be allowed to take off in fog so thick it was a trick to find the runway, but 1970s autoland, baby! Tune ILS on one side and CPT on the other, then SAM and you're off to LEMD or LEPA. Why Luton? Because taxiing is boring and it's fun turning a big airplane around at the end of the 7000 ft. runway to take off 🙂 (Nice Uk2000 airport, too.) But, yeah, it has been kind of funny since AS this time of year.

Oh Tristars! I remember those!

We had a holiday charter airline here back in the 90's called Caledonian who used to operate a fleet of ex British Airways hand-me-down L1011s. I remember as a kid flying with them to Spain and Portugal and they were absolutely notorious for breaking down! We had a rejected take off at Alicante once followed by a 12 hour delay in the airport terminal while they flew another L1011 out to rescue us!

It wasn't long after that Caledonian became My Travel and then Airtours, scrapped the L1011s and replaced them with brand new A330s. Of course many will know that Airtours themselves would later rebrand as Thomas Cook Airlines, who sadly went bust at the end of last year.

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by Tom Wright

Quote

Does England EVER Have Good Weather?

Sometimes...

(London, right now)

 

2 hours ago, Tom Wright said:

Oh Tristars! I remember those!

We had a holiday charter airline here back in the 90's called Caledonian who used to operate a fleet of ex British Airways hand-me-down L1011s. I remember as a kid flying with them to Spain and Portugal and they were absolutely notorious for breaking down! We had a rejected take off at Alicante once followed by a 12 hour delay in the airport terminal while they flew another L1011 out to rescue us!

My first ever flight was on a Caledonian Tristar. Brilliant first aircraft to travel on, especially for a short hop from Gatwick to Geneva. Don't think de-rated take-offs were a thing back then. I distinctly remember being pushed back into my seat when thrust was applied.
 

47 minutes ago, F737NG said:

My first ever flight was on a Caledonian Tristar. Brilliant first aircraft to travel on, especially for a short hop from Gatwick to Geneva. Don't think de-rated take-offs were a thing back then. I distinctly remember being pushed back into my seat when thrust was applied.

I think mine was too. I'm sure I vaguely remember that smoking was a thing too down the back of those, although I would have been very young but I remember the smell! Would have been early-mid 1990s out of Gatwick.

I've still got the certificate somewhere from my first visit to the flight deck, it's even got the reg on it G-BBAJ.

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by Tom Wright

I did not know TriStars were still flying in the 90s. AFAIK NASA is flying the last one. (They have an unusual fleet--was surprised that they had one of the three Canberras still flying when one flew for SpaceX's SN8 first aborted launch.) I should have guessed because I flew on a Hawaiian Airlines DC-8--from Sicily to Bahrain in the early 90s. And I had not heard that Thomas Cook went belly up. We're overcast with frost this morning at 21 degrees. Goats are sleeping in today.

Just popped up on my phone from my gallery. This week 3 years ago, UK Midlands. Super deep snow. 

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by martin-w

On it's day in fine weather in the gorgeous green countryside there is no finer place on earth than good 'ol blighty !!

 

Dave

 

Forgot to add..whilst I am doing my other passion...Cycling...

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by davenicoll

37 minutes ago, davenicoll said:

 

Forgot to add..whilst I am doing my other passion...Cycling...

 

You'd like Sark then. No cars allowed. You cycle or walk only. Fascinating place. 

On 12/13/2020 at 4:27 PM, Tim_Capps said:

Since I've gotten Active Sky into P3Dv5.1, every time I report to Luton it's foggy, or raining, or both. I'm beginning to think AS is buggy, or abandoning my plans to retire to sunny England.

Hi Tim,

Interesting post especially as I have run a weather station for the last 11.5 years. Yes, the British Isles are generally cloudy but mild. We live for the most part under the Jet Stream which transports all the bad weather from North America across the pond to us. So thanks for that! 😁

The dominating wind direction is south westerly which may bring cloud and rain but it also ensures we don't very often suffer bone-chilling temperatures. The annual average temp for my station near Manchester Airport is around 11C (52F). But we do get good weather for several months but without the extreme heat that makes outside activity impossible. The highest temp I have recorded is 35.4C (96F) last year and the lowest -11C (12F) back in the very cold winter of 2009/10.

Rainfall averages around 32" and there has never been a month without rain even in the very hot summer of 2018. The further south and east you are the more sunshine you will enjoy and less rainfall. Luton is in the SE of England so has better weather than Manchester.

No two days are the same. It's what makes our climate interesting. I'm not sure I could cope with the climate of California with endless blue skies and very little rain. You learn to accept what you have as you can't change it. England may be soggy and damp in the winter but in the summer it's a green and pleasant land.

Follow my link below to see detailed observations.

On 12/15/2020 at 5:54 AM, Tim_Capps said:

Don't know if an L1011 would be allowed to take off in fog so thick it was a trick to find the runway, but 1970s autoland, baby! Tune ILS on one side and CPT on the other, then SAM and you're off to LEMD or LEPA. Why Luton? Because taxiing is boring and it's fun turning a big airplane around at the end of the 7000 ft. runway to take off 🙂 (Nice Uk2000 airport, too.) But, yeah, it has been kind of funny since AS this time of year.

I got my PPL at Luton when it was still a minor airfield back in 1966. Taxi from the club house to the grass runway, about 200m? Bit different now.

On 12/14/2020 at 9:40 PM, Tim_Capps said:

 Do you happen to recall hearing about the assistant state's attorney in Alexander County? 

I vaguely remember hearing about some corruption or another over there, but I try to stay away from the Crackle and Hush Puppy these days.    The glory of the internet -- here we have English folk, South Africans, etc. reading this.  They have no idea what we're talking about.

@Ray Proudfoot would be all-in for the Hush Puppy Saloon.  I'd have to pry him outta there.