🌧️ Is the weather in the UK really that bad? | Weather Words — Transcript

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1. 0:00Wet. Cold. Windy.
2. 0:04Just how bad is British weather?
3. 0:08Let's ask an expert.
4. 0:11And I have found someone who knows all about the weather.
5. 0:15Meteorologist and BBC weather presenter, Simon King.
6. 0:19Hello. Welcome.
7. 0:20Thank you. So I have a question for you,
8. 0:23which is, does it really rain that much in Britain?
9. 0:28Because that's what everyone thinks.
10. 0:30And that's a very good myth.
11. 0:32It is seen as quite a cloudy, rainy sort of country.
12. 0:36Let me explain why.
13. 0:37First of all, because we've got a big ocean to the west of us, the Atlantic.
14. 0:42There's lots of moisture.
15. 0:43And so when you get weather systems coming across the Atlantic,
16. 0:47it picks up all that moisture.
17. 0:48And it rains, particularly in northern and western parts of the UK.
18. 0:53So that's quite rainy.
19. 0:55But as these weather systems move to the south-east, it tends to get a bit drier.
20. 1:01So south-eastern areas of the UK aren't actually all that wet,
21. 1:06and it doesn't get as much rainfall as you might think.
22. 1:10You might be surprised to know that London actually gets less rainfall
23. 1:15per year than Paris, Tokyo, New York, Sydney.
24. 1:21Sydney!?
25. 1:22Absolutely.
26. 1:23OK. How does that work?
27. 1:26Because that sounds crazy.
28. 1:27So, in Sydney, you might get really big thunderstorms that can deliver a lot
29. 1:33of rainfall, whereas in London you might get a day's worth of rain,
30. 1:38and it might be light rain and drizzle and not really amount to very much.
31. 1:43So, overall you get more frequent bouts of rain.
32. 1:48So it might rain more often in London, but the rainfall you get isn't as much.
33. 1:57Now, British people love talking about the weather.
34. 2:01Why do you think that is?
35. 2:03I think it's because where we are in the world, our weather is so changeable.
36. 2:10So it means we do get weather systems coming in, bringing rain,
37. 2:14but we also get sunshine.
38. 2:17And it's famously British to talk about the weather, national conversation.
39. 2:23And it's because I think it's something that connects all of us.
40. 2:27Like, we might walk down the streets with an umbrella, it's raining.
41. 2:30And you might say to somebody in small talk.
42. 2:33"Oh, it's a wet day!" or "It's not very nice today, is it?"
43. 2:36And because it changes so much in the UK,
44. 2:39I think it just makes it quite interesting.
45. 2:41Yeah. It's so unpredictable.
46. 2:44Like, you can, I often say when you go out for the day,
47. 2:48you have to dress for all the seasons.
48. 2:50You need a coat and an umbrella, and maybe your sunglasses.
49. 2:54Well, again, we can have four seasons in one day,
50. 2:57which is a fairly typical British saying where say in spring,
51. 3:02the morning might be really cold, you need to wrap up warm
52. 3:05and then you might get a shower.
53. 3:07So, then you get the rainfall, then the clouds clear.
54. 3:11Because it's spring, the sun is a bit stronger.
55. 3:14It gets warm in the afternoon.
56. 3:15So, you're taking all your layers off, taking the umbrella off.
57. 3:18So, you do really experience the four seasons in one day.
58. 3:22Yeah. And that's exciting to talk about to British people.
59. 3:25Absolutely. Yes.
60. 3:27And how is climate change affecting the weather in the UK?
61. 3:33I think the overall effect that many of us will see is extreme weather.
62. 3:39So the weather will just become more extreme.
63. 3:41And what I mean by that is our heatwaves will become more frequent,
64. 3:47they'll last longer and they'll be hotter,
65. 3:49so the temperature in them will be higher.
66. 3:52We'll therefore get droughts.
67. 3:54So, the summer is expected to be drier and hotter.
68. 3:58But then in the winter, the UK is expected to become warmer and wetter.
69. 4:06And that means that we could see more flooding.
70. 4:08So when we talk about extreme weather,
71. 4:10we're talking about flooding, droughts, heat waves, strong winds.
72. 4:16So those are the sort of things
73. 4:17that we in the UK might experience more of in the future.
74. 4:24Well thank you Simon.
75. 4:25That was all very interesting.
76. 4:27I think the most surprising thing I've learnt is that it rains more
77. 4:31in Sydney, Australia than in London.
78. 4:34It's crazy. I know. Yep.
79. 4:35So, Britain doesn't get the most rain, but it can rain quite often,
80. 4:41even if it's not that heavy.
81. 4:43So, if you're coming here, don't forget to bring your umbrella.