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Man the posters who live in climates that can grow the coolest **** are the ones who least talk about it. They live in northern Brazil or Indonesia, imagine how many insane things you can grow there! Jacarandas, guapuru, cupuacu, dragonfruit, bamboo, camu camu, rambutan, you name it. Would be so cool to see photos of these places
Man the poster who lives in a place that has just seen a 80 cm snowfall in one day is among the ones who least care for snow. Would be so cool to see photos of it.
A few observations (bearing in mind that, of course, one year is not fully representative of a climate, obviously...but enough for a general idea):
-It rarely feels too cold. Compared to Paris, for example, I found that there were far less cold (<3-5°C) highs; cold lows are not uncommon but usually happen in very calm conditions that give way to a sunny day. I've felt way colder in windy, drizzly 8°C mornings than the very calm and sunny -1°C mornings.
A typical example would be a -4/5 day with full sun; when Paris would be -4/-1 and overcast. The coldest high in the ~15 months I've been here was only 0.4°C. Not too bad for 51°N.
-Summer generally felt right in terms of warmth. Now if this were Nice, or Sydney, I'd find 14/24 seriously too cool for summer, but wearing a suit 5 days a week (actually 4, thanks casual Fridays) made me change my perspective, as did living in a south-facing brick building with large windows. The 23/31°C day last July (which would be balmy in Nice) felt horrendous, my room felt like an oven at night. On the flipside, there were a few outrageously cool summer days (13°C maxes in early June, wtf, there were lows higher than that the previous December).
-Summer sunshine felt slightly lacklustre, but generally OK, except for June which was unbelievably cloudy (99 hrs) but this was obviously way below average.
-The UHI is sometimes strikingly noticeable. SO lives in the far suburbs (Zone 6) and when visiting her, especially on clear evenings, I feel a huge difference in temp between the city centre and there.
-It feels surprisingly dry. It doesn't rain that often honestly, and when it does it's generally very weak. I didn't even own an umbrella until I went to Tenerife where a freak shower forced me to buy one. Otherwise, here in London most of the time it's just pathetic drizzle.
-Surprised at the "seasonal lag" in vegetation (but maybe that's because 2016 had a cold spring and warm autumn). Some trees were still completely bare into April, while others in the City were green until as late as late November. Went to Kew Gardens in early October and it was still mostly green everwhere.
-The time zone (and early sunsets) is somehow justified near winter solstice; 8am-4pm is a justifiable alternative to 9am-5pm. However it gets increasingly retarded as you approach March equinox (i.e. now), when it's already bright at 6am but starts getting dark at 6pm. Then it is again alright around April, but becomes downright derpy in summer. 4.43am sunsets with civil twilight starting at 3.50 or so? U WOT M8? What's the ****ing point? whereas sunsets are barely later than Tenerife, more than 20 degrees south.
-Winter cloudiness/darkness is a bitch. No amount of denial can go against that. It's just the way it is.
TL;DR acceptably mild/coolish climate for office job/large city life (esp. summer), rainy reputation unjustified, cloudy reputation entirely justified in winter, retarded time zone.
This is a great summary, London gets such a bad rep weatherwise when the reality is its really quite nice (no extremes), obviously its not as nice as the weather around the Med but if I had to live in the North of Europe then the UK is about as good as it gets (for me anyway, I hate the cold). I remember last June being god awful but managed to get to the beach quite a few times in July, August and September, which were quite pleasant last year, I hope this June is somewhat better!
This is a great summary, London gets such a bad rep weatherwise when the reality is its really quite nice (no extremes), obviously its not as nice as the weather around the Med but if I had to live in the North of Europe then the UK is about as good as it gets (for me anyway, I hate the cold). I remember last June being god awful but managed to get to the beach quite a few times in July, August and September, which were quite pleasant last year, I hope this June is somewhat better!
Yeah it's not as bad as it's reputation that's for sure, although sometimes it's climate is massively exaggerated on here. In reality, it's the same as up here, just a bit warmer.
The recent awful summer months probably haven't helped the bad rep that London has, and tbh, if it wasn't so cloudy it would actually be fairly decent. There are certainly far worse climates, and even at lower latitudes. I think we're pretty lucky to live somewhere where the weather is rarely dangerous, and is generally very comfortable for day to day living.
I obviously love my heat and sun, but tbh I'm happy to go on holiday a couple of times of year to get my heat fix.
It's November to March that gives the UK its reputation. I imagine it's a nightmare for people with seasonal affective disorder. In general, the period from April to October really isn't that bad, IMHO.
It's November to March that gives the UK its reputation. I imagine it's a nightmare for people with seasonal affective disorder. In general, the period from April to October really isn't that bad, IMHO.
I worked with a guy from St Vincent(I think), and he used to wear gloves in summer! I don't think he'd ever experienced anything below about 25C until he came to the UK. He always reminded me of the scene in Cool Runnings when they arrive at the airport in Canada!
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). 
whereas sunsets are barely later than Tenerife, more than 20 degrees south. 
