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Are you more interested in climate or weather, or both equally.
For me, what's happening during each day is where my primary interest lies. I feel lucky to live in a place with lots of "interesting" weather.
Climate is interesting in a more abstract way, and I do more reading/research on climate. Weather is something that is more about the experience. Of course, climate is the average of weather, so you can't have one without the other.
Both equally for me. I am interested in what affects local climates, and also microclimates. The shape of the continents, islands, peninsulas, ocean currents, latitude, topography, all the things that affect climate, are interesting to me.
With the weather itself all types of severe weather interest me the most, particularly convective weather, which is sorely lacking in the UK.
I think the UK isn't a bad place to live if you're interested in variety of weather, because it has far more possible airmasses/currents which can affect it at any time of year than many other climates, which often have much more "seasonal" wind patterns. Sure some wind patterns are more common at different times of the year here, but overall, any wind direction and different type of weather can affect the UK at any time of year, making for much unpredictability, and an interesting variety of weather.
I mean, we can have tornadoes here, in summer (such as July 2005) but even in winter (London 2006); we can have extended dry periods lasting for weeks in one place, while the other half of the country is getting flooded; we can even reach temps of 38°C / 100°F in a heatwave, which for our maritime climate and being on an island, is extremely impressive for this latitude. Of course we can also get very cool weather in the summer and it's even snowed in summer but that's part of the fun.
My personal preference is for warmer weather. The UK weather is too consistently cool for me to enjoy much, apart from enjoyment of its unpredictability and variety. Also, while we have a real variety of weather, it tends to be "half-baked", that is, just a taste of that weather. Weak thunderstorms, drizzly rain, often too cloudy, no real heat or cold.
Both equally for me. I am interested in what affects local climates, and also microclimates. The shape of the continents, islands, peninsulas, ocean currents, latitude, topography, all the things that affect climate, are interesting to me.
With the weather itself all types of severe weather interest me the most, particularly convective weather, which is sorely lacking in the UK.
I think the UK isn't a bad place to live if you're interested in variety of weather, because it has far more possible airmasses/currents which can affect it at any time of year than many other climates, which often have much more "seasonal" wind patterns. Sure some wind patterns are more common at different times of the year here, but overall, any wind direction and different type of weather can affect the UK at any time of year, making for much unpredictability, and an interesting variety of weather.
I mean, we can have tornadoes here, in summer (such as July 2005) but even in winter (London 2006); we can have extended dry periods lasting for weeks in one place, while the other half of the country is getting flooded; we can even reach temps of 38°C / 100°F in a heatwave, which for our maritime climate and being on an island, is extremely impressive for this latitude. Of course we can also get very cool weather in the summer and it's even snowed in summer but that's part of the fun.
My personal preference is for warmer weather. The UK weather is too consistently cool for me to enjoy much, apart from enjoyment of its unpredictability and variety. Also, while we have a real variety of weather, it tends to be "half-baked", that is, just a taste of that weather. Weak thunderstorms, drizzly rain, often too cloudy, no real heat or cold.
To me that is what was so interesting about your weather this past December. I enjoy following the weather in diff parts of the world. I was floored by the temps and freezing conditions in England this past December. I think you are right about the variability of weather there, similiar to here. We are probably more extreme, but still there is some variability in the UK too.
Like you, I enjoy both climate and weather. I'm interested in the extreme weather events around the world, and how frightening and fascinating things can be at times, yet at the same time I enjoy reading about climate and the more stable/predictable climates of the world.
Both are pretty interesting and I can't say which one dominates my "interest" in the other -- it seems like a package deal for me.
Weather is most relevant to my day to day life (especially knowing when the real nice days are so I don't miss them!) so if interest means "practical concern" then that's it. A natural related curiosity would be to compare things year to year ("oh, this year, summer came earlier it feels" or "what's up with all the snow this winter") which overlaps into interest in climate.
I would say most people are into weather first, as most who check the weather reports before they go outside probably don't really go around thinking what the average highs in August in their city are (which seems more abstract as you say).
Part of my interest in climate though probably also had to do with understanding and knowing the suite of stats (sunshine, temperature, precipitation, extremes, variation on a diurnal, seasonal and annual level etc.) for many places to imagine what they'd feel like relative to what I'm used to (rather than just hearing people say a catch-all or broad statement like "here" is hotter than "there"). Though climate is abstract, it might useful to know what to expect in various cities/places you've never been in, ahead of time, in case you'd want to live there for a while and that allows you to make sense of what unusual weather events are going on in various areas based on what you'd normally expect.
It could be possible to be into day-to-day weather, without giving a thought about or paying attention to climactic big picture at all (for those of us interested in both though, it might seem like missing the forest for the trees!).
Of course we can also get very cool weather in the summer and it's even snowed in summer but that's part of the fun.
I can see this happening in places like the Scottish highlands, but I'm curious to know -- has this happened in places closer to sea level and/or further south (for instance in your town and other parts of England)?
It apparently snowed on 2nd June 1975, but a quick check of the temperatures that day doesn't support it.
It was one of the coldest June days ever, but the high was 15C and the low 5C, so impossible for snow to fall.
Not where you were.
But across the midlands, including in Birmingham, snow fell but didn't lay. However, here in Buxton, there was one inch of accumulated snow on that day, disrupiting the Derbyshire vs Lancashire cricket match I think it was.
It apparently snowed on 2nd June 1975, but a quick check of the temperatures that day doesn't support it.
It was one of the coldest June days ever, but the high was 15C and the low 5C, so impossible for snow to fall.
Hi of 15 low of 5 is also far from the coldest of June days recorded around the London area... for one, the day of the Queen's coronation, I believe, saw a max temperature of just 52°F / 11°C in that locality.
Both are interesting, but I find the southern limits of 'extreme' cold and snow fascinating. Such examples would be snow and/or freezing temperatures reaching places such as Miami or Tampico, or unusually cold weather in general. I'm also interested in record lows and record low highs, especially in places that tend to be somewhat more stable climatically at certain times of the year. Although we're not exactly set in a summer pattern yet, I was intrigued with the recent unusual cool weather in the south and southwest. Once we get into late spring and summer, it's pretty difficult for there to be any sort of noticeable cool event.
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