Why is it so difficult?

[cyclonic happiness]

Why do you suppose it's so difficult to get precipitation to cross into the Midlands?

I watch the rainfall radars and I also watch the precipitation charts on meteociel and netweather etc and they all show the Midlands most times being bone dry, whilst the rest of the UK has plenty.

Now I can understand why it's difficult for us to get precipitation from the north/northwest or west, but why does it have such trouble passing across to us from the east or northeast?

The thing that amazes me the most, is watching the precipitation pass without effort across continental Europe for hundreds of miles ,giving them decent snowfalls or rainfalls and yet here it can barely get 50 miles across dead flat land from the east into our region?

This is just more of a moan thread coz I've just seen the 12z update and yet again, we are stuck in the dry middle!!

[AWD]

Don't know any exact scientific answer but surely it would have something to do with the Midlands being sheltered by various hills/elevated lands.

To the south you have the Cotswolds, to the west you have the Welsh Marches & to the north you have the Pennines. From these 3 directions you probably receive around 95% of your weather.

[Nights King]

Don't know any exact scientific answer but surely it would have something to do with the Midlands being sheltered by various hills/elevated lands.

To the south you have the Cotswolds, to the west you have the Welsh Marches & to the north you have the Pennines. From these 3 directions you probably receive around 95% of your weather.

That would be my thoughts also, It happens to different areas around the country though. even bristol tends to be in a dry zone with wintry weather because you have wales to the north and northwest and then to the east and north east the cotswolds and to the south and south west it has the mendips. If you get a direct northerly or even a northwesterly we don't stand a chance either because of the welch mountains for somerset and bristol area while the cornish can get battered on the coast.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Why do you suppose it's so difficult to get precipitation to cross into the Midlands?

I watch the rainfall radars and I also watch the precipitation charts on meteociel and netweather etc and they all show the Midlands most times being bone dry, whilst the rest of the UK has plenty.

Now I can understand why it's difficult for us to get precipitation from the north/northwest or west, but why does it have such trouble passing across to us from the east or northeast?

The thing that amazes me the most, is watching the precipitation pass without effort across continental Europe for hundreds of miles ,giving them decent snowfalls or rainfalls and yet here it can barely get 50 miles across dead flat land from the east into our region?

This is just more of a moan thread coz I've just seen the 12z update and yet again, we are stuck in the dry middle!!

Not difficult from NW? no hills there, I have many wet miserable days off a NW wind, East is good for snow, no hills directly east

[Aaron]

Because it is sheltered from the precipitation or most of it by the Welsh mountains.. it is also located far inland.. rainfall moving over land will eventually weaken, unless it is convective and forms due to land based heating.

[gottolovethisweather]

Because it is sheltered from the precipitation or most of it by the Welsh mountains.. it is also located far inland.. rainfall moving over land will eventually weaken, unless it is convective and forms due to land based heating.

I can remember this being the case for many in the SE region for a few years as well or so it seemed, more especially in recent years, excepting 2012.

[TonyH]

Rain shadow as Aaron says.

Edited October 28, 2012 by TonyH

[Dorsetbred]

Orographic rainfall

[Terminal Moraine]

As has been mentioned above the primary answer for rain approaching from the west or south west is that the Midlands is in the rain shadow of the Welsh mountains. From the north and north west the area is in the rain shadow of the Pennines although it is possible for restricted areas of the Midlands to have wet days as a succession of showers feeds through the Cheshire Gap on a north westerly.

It's not common for frontal precipitation to move in from the east or north east so opportunities from those directions are limited.There are occasions when an area of low pressure approaches from the south and the rain area to the north of the centre occurs with an easterly wind and when this happens the Midlands can do as well as anywhere for large rainfall totals. Even then the amounts on low ground tend to be quite a lot less than on the eastern slopes of the Peak District due to the orographic effect.

With regard to areas of precipitation moving for hundreds of miles over the interior of continental Europe, on those occasions the area of low pressure responsible is often fed its energy by the contrast in temperature between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Relatively warm and moist air will be drawn into the system from the Med' and this will happily interact with the colder air further north resulting in large amounts of precipitation lasting a long time as the system becomes almost self sustaining. Also it's often the case that the low has nowhere to go, other than mill around over Europe, due to a blocking high over western Russia.

There are occasions when an area of low pressure will move west from Europe on an easterly flow and the Midlands will do very well out of it but these are rare, particularly when compared with the frequency of rain arriving from the other directions of the compass, and so the overall impression is that rain areas are generally weak or weakening when they reach the area.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Terminal Moraine

[TonyH]

Another factor, on the occasions when there is a convective east or NE flow is that the showers will tend to die away as they move well inland from their energy source of the relatively warm North Sea, this more especially true of Autumn and Winter.

Edited October 28, 2012 by TonyH

[TonyH]

Still the Midland's is wetter than adjacent areas to the east, that of East Anglia.

[Aaron]

Yup, if you like big rainfall events, East Anglia is probably the worst place to be in the UK.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Yup, if you like big rainfall events, East Anglia is probably the worst place to be in the UK.

meaning I need to live there!

[Eye to the sky]

We seem to get our fair share of precipitation here in the East Midlands from all directions.We had plenty of thundersorms starting in the west of the country and then moving east through here I counted 9 here this summer in total.We did have a major shortage of snow from around 1996 until 2006/7 but the since then we have had plenty with the majority of it coming from the East or North with a slight dusting on Saturday morning from showers moving down the east of the country.Rainfall totals seem pretty average too with the west and north being most common directions.The Peak District is only around 20 miles miles north of here but very rarely seems to hinder the weather patterns.Maybe the lack of precipitation is to the SW of here maybe around Birmingham/Wolverhampton etc.

[TonyH]

http://www.metoffice.../ukmapavge.html

Orographic influences stand out, with the high ground of the southern Peaks and Staffs Moorlands, the Welsh Marches and the Cotswolds wettest, and the valleys of the Severn, Avon and Trent driest. The Birmingham plateau also has it's own little orographic influence.

Edited October 28, 2012 by TonyH

[Thundery wintry showers]

Yup, if you like big rainfall events, East Anglia is probably the worst place to be in the UK.

East Anglia is one of the UK's driest regions due to being heavily sheltered from the Atlantic, but it is far from immune from big rainfall events. Slow-moving low pressure systems in the southern North Sea can generate spells of heavy and persistent frontal rain, while East Anglia is also one of the UK's most thunder-prone regions and sometimes picks up localised torrential convective downpours.

Historically many parts of East Anglia have also tended to pick up heavy snowfalls with winds from the north-eastern quarter of the compass, although many recent easterly and north-easterly incursions have seen a comparatively dry slot establish over much of East Anglia with streamers over the Wash and the Thames.

The Midlands are, as others have noted, quite well protected from both the west and east. I think the Midlands can still get notable big rainfall events though, e.g. a frontal system aligned from west to east stalling over the region, and the average summer thunder frequency is higher than in many other parts of the UK (though not as high as in East Anglia), leading at times to heavy thundery downpours. The 8th December 1990 had large quantities of sleet and snow.

Edited October 29, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[feb1991blizzard]

East Anglia is one of the UK's driest regions due to being heavily sheltered from the Atlantic, but it is far from immune from big rainfall events. Slow-moving low pressure systems in the southern North Sea can generate spells of heavy and persistent frontal rain, while East Anglia is also one of the UK's most thunder-prone regions and sometimes picks up localised torrential convective downpours.

Historically many parts of East Anglia have also tended to pick up heavy snowfalls with winds from the north-eastern quarter of the compass, although many recent easterly and north-easterly incursions have seen a comparatively dry slot establish over much of East Anglia with streamers over the Wash and the Thames.

The Midlands are, as others have noted, quite well protected from both the west and east. I think the Midlands can still get notable big rainfall events though, e.g. a frontal system aligned from west to east stalling over the region, and the average summer thunder frequency is higher than in many other parts of the UK (though not as high as in East Anglia), leading at times to heavy thundery downpours. The 8th December 1990 had large quantities of sleet and snow.

Indeed thundersnow, although i have never heard anyone else say this or read any articles that suggested this, it may have only been one crack but it was an almighty crack, about 3 or 4am on the Saturday morning, i raced to the window thinking it was going to have all turned to rain, but it was a proper blizzard still going, the only time i have ever heard 'proper' thundersnow.

Edited October 29, 2012 by feb1991blizzard

[Essan]

I think the Midlands can still get notable big rainfall events though, e.g. a frontal system aligned from west to east stalling over the region

Aye, July 20th 2007. And, indeed Dec 18th 2010

... and the average summer thunder frequency is higher than in many other parts of the UK

Higher than the north/NW. But lower than anyway south and east of here.

But usually, whichever direction rain comes from it breaks up as it crosses the Vale only to reinvigorate as it reaches higher ground north, south, east or west of here. I've noticed that even the models seem to take this into account. And thunderstorms usually track either side - we get plenty of distant thunder but overhead storms rarely occur.

[Aaron]

East Anglia is one of the UK's driest regions due to being heavily sheltered from the Atlantic, but it is far from immune from big rainfall events.

Everywhere gets big rainfall events at some point, but East Anglia is the driest region on average. There's a guy from Suffolk on another forum who is always commenting on how rainfall events keep on missing where he lives.

[Essan]

When I lived in Ipswich I quickly learned that if a band of rain was shown on the forecast coming in from the west ........ it'd be a dry day.

[Gord]

When I lived in Lowestoft in the 80s and the 90s, we were usually in the firing line for the massive thunderstorm systems that would drift north out of France. you are either completley exposed or completley sheltered there...there doesn't seem to be any inbetween.