For those not familiar with Scottish weather, the running joke is that you can have all four seasons in one day. Sound familiar… I believe New England is similar.
So, far it’s been wonderful with minimal rain, which is not the norm. I’ve heard from more than one person that the weather has been unusual and they had a great summer. I actually can’t recall a day where it rained all day but it usually is a passing shower or mist. I’m enjoying my weather app because the first week it showed rain everyday but it never happened. I think it’s preparing you for the worst and when it turns out to be a great day you’re super excited. Also, if you wake up and it’s overcast it doesn’t mean it won’t be sunny in a few hours or minutes and vice versa. When it comes to the rain, umbrellas are a waste – this may also sound familiar for Bostonians and the worst rain is the mist and not the downpours. It can be quite windy so now you know why umbrellas are useless. Apparently, Aberdeen is known for its rainbows because of the rain and sunshine.
Is it cold? I did arrive to sweater weather but was able to get some last sandal weather days in. Like New England, summer can reappear for a brief moment. I’m also still adjusting to Celsius vs Fahrenheit. I still have the Fahrenheit on my weather app but I have a draft chart to help me with celsius. I will probably revise as I progress through the Scottish seasons.
I recognize for some people that my cold or hot temps may not pertain to them but I prefer cold weather over hot weather. I get cranky when it’s hot. I should also note that for people in the UK 25-30 °C is hot. Use of Air conditioning isn’t as widespread as it is in the States.
Just to help you put into perspective, my professor thought it was chilly this morning and it was 15°C. I only wore a vest to campus and was perfectly fine. Also, by lunch time it was 22°C and sunny but within a few hours it was cloudy and rainy. So, you need to be prepared for any weather.
So, right now we are in the “Do I really need a jacket?” phase of fall. I could have even worn my sandals today but I didn’t as I really need a pedicure.
Just an update as I started drafting this post last week and by the end of the week we had a our first major storm – Storm Amy that went from Yellow to Amber warning (guessing I need to work on understanding the storm warnings here). It started Friday evening into Saturday along with remnants of the storm in the form of two very windy days. It was quite a massive storm although since it was pretty much an overnight storm, I didn’t witness it to much and although we had some downed trees it wasn’t as bad as some other areas of Scotland where they lost power. Even today some 5000 people are still without power. It seemed to cover quite a bit of Scotland from the west coast to the east coast, which is it a large storm or is Scotland that small of a country? And the answer is that it’s a small country and is about the size of Maine.
Following the storm, I did venture out on Saturday late morning as it had stopped raining but still very windy. I ventured down to Aberdeen Beach to check out the surf. Here are some pics from my walk down to the beach.
I’ll keep you updated as I experience the Scottish seasons. Next up daylight savings where it gets dark very early. I’ve been advised to get a seasonal affective disorder lamp. So, I will be turning back my clock the end of October.
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