English weather is a pretty standard topic of conversation, but I am not just talking about the climate. I am specifically talking about meteorology, or the lack thereof really. I have not seen a single Doppler radar map in about a year now. I am sure by now the American local news channels are probably up to Doppler 7 Million, but here all we see is a pretty crude map with some misty looking clouds superimposed over the map to show where there might be clouds and rain. That is all. No pretty green to red scale to show me coming storms or that animation that looks like bacteria growing on the map. Just a plain old map that really doesn’t tell me anything. Oh, and there is no Weather Channel.

On top of the lack of informative weather maps, I am also hard pressed to find an accurate weather forecast. For example, I will put the forecast from the widget on my laptop next to the forecast I have on my iPhone so you can see the difference.

Wednesday- Laptop: 81 and sunny, iPhone: 75 and rainy
Thursday- Laptop: 79 and partly cloudy, iPhone: 73 and partly cloudy
Friday- Laptop: 74 and partly cloudy, iPhone: 68 and rainy
Saturday- Laptop: 72 and rainy, iPhone: 66 and rainy
Sunday- Laptop: 67 and rainy/sunny, iPhone: 64 and partly cloudy
Monday- Laptop: 66 and partly cloudy, iPhone: 62 and rainy

I haven’t found one of these forecasts to be more accurate than the other and often both are way off. I think the weather man probably starts off the day throwing darts at the wall and choosing the forecast that way because there seriously can’t be any science to it. I should also add that when I check these same sources tomorrow they will probably have a completely different forecast for the next 5 days.

I have pretty much given up on trying to find an accurate weather forecast. You may wonder how I plan my day when I have no idea what the weather will be and I can’t rely on British “meteorologists” to tell me. The truth is that Brits get their weather report by simply looking out the window and they always prepare for the chance of rain and should it happen they go about their business as usual. As long as the weather stays within the “normal” range and there isn’t a snow storm or a heat wave people will go about their day impervious to changes in the weather. The same goes for domestic holidays, compared to the intense planning that goes into a day out in America to accommodate changes in weather, its not nearly as important when Brits plan a day trip.

Usually this que sera sera approach to predicting weather works out okay,  but I have seen it have some pretty disastrous consequences. For example a couple weeks ago this region was hit with very heavy hail storms. Of course there was no warning there might be hail that morning because the weather man’s dart didn’t land on “hail storm” that day. I watched as some very unfortunate pedestrians tried to scramble off the beach with their dogs while being pelted with fairly large hail. I am sure had they had some warning there might be heavy hail they would have stayed in.

I suppose Midwestern weather has a greater effect on the daily lives of people since the weather can quickly turn very severe. As a result, even young children could probably interpret the greens and reds on a Midwestern weather map. There could be a blizzard, an ice storm, a tornado, a severe thunderstorm, flooding, triple digit temps; all of these things are a regular part of life in the Midwest. In Britain the most dangerous weather phenomena are basically limited to thick fog, hail, flooding and strong winds and it ends there. Other more severe weather, even mild thunderstorms, are extremely rare so I suppose spending too much time forecasting generally mild weather would be a waste of time.

Not knowing what the weather is going to be like has taken some getting used to, but it is also a bit fun especially on a day like today when it is sunny and beautiful and I get to go out on the beach and get a tan. I suppose its nice to be surprised when these lovely days pop up than to look forward to it for days and risk being disappointed and having my plans dashed by rain.

Author Info -  Lisa Coulson is an American Expat living in the North of England in Hartlepool. She writes a weekly column on Wednesdays about life in the UK. Lisa also has her own blog - Anglophile's Digest Read more from this author

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