I've just been reading the news about Storm Bert. How can such a small country as the UK have such devastation in the west but almost nothing in the east?
I left home in late Fall this morning, and within 15 minutes was driving in winter. Now I'm home, back in late Fall. The sea has a lot to do with patterns. My friend left Montreal this summer, from a sweltering 36 degree celsius. After 9 hours on the road, he reached the coastal ridge, and noted the temperature falling to 26. As the sea came into sight, the temp was 22, and soon after he got here, it was at 18. It was still 36 where he'd started.
The next city north of us, inland and 90 minutes' drive away, will generally get significantly more snow than we do. They can be getting 40cm, and we get a dusting or nothing. It drives my aquaristic friends there crazy, as they shovel a lot, and I don't. But if I go visit my daughters in Nova Scotia, there is high ground inland there where really bad snow squalls have to be watched out for, while 30 km away, it's clear. When you check the weather before a winter drive here, you check multiple forecasts.
With a coastal climate, we end up with micro-climates all around, and I'm on a large land mass. When I was just in London, I felt like Yorkshire was really close, and Scotland a short drive away. My British friends have a very different sense of travel distance than I do.
I feel like I'm in a cowboy movie, snow and cold weather wise. It's quiet. Too quiet...
