We have just
reached the start of British summertime, but should we have even bothered
changing the clocks in 2013?
 |
| The rain continues to fall in this country, but should it be a surprise? |
As I write
this piece, my bedroom windows are taking a hammering from a tropical
rainstorm, the typical type associated with April showers. As less as two weeks ago, the estate looked
like a winter paradise with snow covering roofs, cars and the pavements.
It is getting
a little bit ridiculous, considering April has just begun, but in reality,
should we be surprised?
This is Britain after all
This is
Britain after all and frankly, nothing should surprise us about the weather.
This is the
land of unpredictability. One minute, we
could be sitting outside in bright, beautiful sunshine with a magazine and
listening to the top pop tunes. Then in a flash, the skies darken and the
heavens open and we get reminded it was all too good to be true.
Perhaps I
jinked this latest spell of bitterly cold weather. The temperatures picked up at the beginning
of March, and it became so much so, I was ready to ditch the scarf and get out
the sunglasses. I even said that on
Twitter. Oops!
This time
last year, it was all so different.
March 2012 – Our summer
This time
last year, I was approximately five weeks away from finishing my journalism
degree at the University of Northampton.
We were going
through a tropical patch, and the majority of March saw hour after hour of
glorious sunshine in fresh but delightful temperatures.
It was the
hottest March I can ever remember. It
felt good not having to go somewhere needing to wrap up to face the elements.
I was working
so hard on my final individual project at the time, it meant I wasn’t able to
enjoy sitting outside with a cold beverage at the SU bar as much as I would
have liked.
Little did we
know at the time, but that was practically our summer. We had another spurt of similar weather for
around 10 days in May, and the second week of the Olympic Games brought some
sizzling conditions.
Then, after
that – the temperature plummeted, and it just kept raining. It started to become a shock when we had a
decent day’s weather. This year – you
wonder if we will experience a summer period of bright weather.
It shouldn’t happen to a weather
forecaster
It is easy to
criticise the Met Office, but being a weather forecaster can’t be an easy
job. And it isn’t great to listen too,
especially after another news bulletin full of depressing stories.
The great
Michael Fish will always be associated with his famous forecast on the eve of
the powerful storm of October 1987 – when he badly got his wires crossed about
an upcoming hurricane which did cause sheer destruction.
We all
enjoyed Prince Charles taking on the role of reporting the weather last year, but what else can they do? I’m sure
in a perfect world, we’d like them to grit their teeth and say we will
experience hot summer days all the time, when actually there is a thunderstorm
on its way to these isles, but they have to tell the truth.
And it is the
British weather. Sure, it is frustrating
to see it still being so cold, but at the end of the day, we can’t control the
forces of Mother Nature.
0 comments:
Post a Comment