Central Scotland gets more extreme weather
Central Scotland hit hard by torrential rain – Falkirk completely cut off by flooded roads.
One of the amazing facts about the area from Inverness along the Moray Coast is how mild it is.
Thunderstorms are extremely rare, little snow settles, and while the locals love to complain about the Scottish cold and rain, it never seems to get as bad as across Central Scotland.
We lived near Stirling for 18 months while we explored Scotland to find a place to move to, and it really was a place of extremes.
On the one hand, the area was truly beautiful – the scenic divide between the Scottish lowlands and highlands. And so was the weather.
Sun and showers were so common we called it “Rainbow Country”. Rain could really pelt down, and sometimes the wind would absolutely rattle the house as it gushed along the central valleys. And while deep snow wasn’t common, we caught it the winter we stayed there.
Here’s a pic that possibly sums up the depth – my Nana’s rose bush in a 10″ tall pot:
The weather here in Nairn is getting wild tonight – the wind is rising and the air freezing wet.
Still, at least it never gets as bad as the central belt gets it. Perhaps we’re missing out. I’m not sure. 
Comments
7 Responses to “Central Scotland gets more extreme weather”
Leave a Reply
Visited 737 times, 1 so far today
Most of our weather comes from a westerly direction. A huge range of mountains tend to collect most of the precipitation which is why Nairn enjoys (Is that the right word tonight?) such clement conditions
Not sure where you got the idea that the Moray Firth is less extreme than the central belt. Snow is a lot more frequent in the north, as are very cold temperatures, high winds and fog. Do you not remember the Hebridean Hurricane a few years ago? The 12 inch deep snow of 2003? The 8 inch snow of 2006?
True, the Moray Firth has warmed in recent years, but with temperatures cooling and a solar minimum beginning, expect old Highland weather to return.
“Not sure where you got the idea that the Moray Firth is less extreme than the central belt. ”
Simply from looking at the weather reports over the past year, when the Central Belt faced storms, flooding, and snow, far in excess of anything we had around here.
“Simply from looking at the weather reports over the past year, when the Central Belt faced storms, flooding, and snow, far in excess of anything we had around here.”
A year is a tiny period of time in meteorology. To say that Stirling has more extreme weather than Inverness is simply false. Inverness experienced 15 ice-days this year (days where the temperature does not go above freezing) with a severe hoar frost, that’s far more than any other city in the UK because Inverness is in a fog basin. Inverness is a lot more likely to experience heavy snowfall from an east and north and north westerly direction, the three primary wind directions for snowfall. Heavy rain is, quite naturally, a lot more common in the Highlands and surprisingly, due to the occasional Föhn winds that can develop Inverness and Nairn have some of the nicest summer days.
So, Stirling and its surrounding areas do not experience more extreme weather, regardless of what you may think from having watched the news for one year.
Graham, I’m not a meteorologist, and therefore I’m not in a position to make an authoritative statement on the weather conditions.
I’m simply making a personal observation from Nairn on the conditions in Nairn compared to news reports (as linked to above) showing how much extreme weather parts of the Central Belt were getting.
Fair play
Wow some people will debate over anything.
Well as a non-expert but a frequent flyer I have never failed to be amazed at the approach to Dalcross where all is white for miles then around Nairn is a basin of green.
I also remember learning in school many years back how Nairn was the driest place in the UK and Penzants was the wettest.
I have also heard the story of Nairn being derived from Na Rain how true that is I don’t know but being a frequent traveller between north and south over the last 30 years I have to agree we have a lot better weather than the central belt and that is through experience not weather charts