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Islay Weather
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Islay does not get the extremes of 'Continental Weather', our climate is much
more moderate, but very changeable within those moderate limits. There are very
few thunderstorms.
Scotland is more cloudy than England due to the hilly nature of the terrain and
in our case the proximity of low-pressure systems from the Atlantic.
The frequency of Atlantic depressions, 20 a year, is greatest during the winter
months with over 30 days of gales per year. The Average Islay wind speed is a
breezy 14 Knots (Force 4)
Islay’s maritime climate is moderated by the Gulf Stream. Without it, the
climate would be similar to that of Greenland. Islay is on the same latitude as
St Petersberg but our temperatures are much higher in winter. The St. Lawrence
in Canada freezes every year – yet we never have a frost. Temperatures are
constant with only a 5°c variance between average high and low temperatures
throughout the year, while there is a 10° temperature range from winter low to
summer high averages.
Islay’s annual high is 11.6°C (14 °c in the warmer South East England) but the
average low temperature is a positively mild 6.6°c (0.5°c warmer than the SE) as
Islay has only 14 days a year of air frosts (compared to 47 Down South) and it
rarely snows.
Mean daily sunshine figures reach a maximum in May or June, and are at their
lowest in December. The relatively high latitude means that mid-winter days are
short (7 hours of daylight in the middle of winter, this is compensated by long
mid-summer days of about 18 hours of daylight (plus 2 hours of twilight) not
getting dark till 22.30 pm. Islay has 2˝ hours more daylight at midsummer than
London.
Islay’s average Sunshine of 1400 hours per year compares favourably to 1589 hours
along the south coast of England. Summer temperature averages are 16°c.
Rainfall average is 1235mm compared to over 3,000 mm per year in the Western
Highlands, the English Lake District and Snowdonia. Surprisingly, this compares
to 775mm in South East England.
Get the current Islay weather
Images of Islay on 9th January 2008
Courtesy of Teresa Morris, Islay Wildscapes
http://www.islaywildscapes.co.uk
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