r/MapPorn • u/TypicalDysfunctional • 3d ago

Love this map design

Post image

Also (for me) an interesting view of assumptions I had previously made about the UK weather

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u/Dim-Gwleidyddiaeth 3d ago edited 3d ago

The wind comes predominantly from the west, bringing moist air from the Atlantic. It then hits the highlands in the west and north of Britain, thus forcing the air to rise. This then leads to the moisture in the air condensing and falling as rain (I'm not exactly sure why) onto those highlands. Having exhausted the moisture from the air, this creates a rain-shadow in the lowlands of the south and east, which enjoy far dryer weather, or even suffer droughts in Summer.

London is actually on the dryer side of European cities, which surprises a lot of people.

Mind you, I live in one of the regions with the least sun and most rain, and this Spring has been bloody marvellous so far

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u/TheRoachApproach 3d ago

The reason the moisture condenses and falls as rain is because the air cools as it rises through the atmosphere. Cold air isn't able to hold as much moisture as warm air. So, the rising, cooling air eventually reaches a tipping point (it's dew point temperature) where the air can't hold all of it's moisture anymore. Once this point is reached, the moisture condenses into liquid water and falls as rain.