Thinking ahead, husband and I are hoping to spend 3 weeks seeing Ireland, Scotland, England, and are wondering what the weather (in general) is like during the last of July or the first of August. If it's the monsoon season, we may have to rethink our plans...Thanks in advance for info.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
It's not monsoon season, but bear in mind that it can and often does still rain a lot in the British Isles year round. If you wait for a rain free time, you'll never get there. ; ) The best strategy is to have a good raincoat--in Scotland I recommend Goretex and a hood--and not let a little damp stop you. You might luck out and have a lot of sun. When my sister and I went to England and Scotland in July we had sun at first, then pouring rain, fog and then more sun. Pam
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Pamela's answer was good! You can go to weather.com and get long term average temps and precip by month by location. Input the name of a larger town or city that's in your area of interest and when today's weather comes up, scroll down and look for the Averages button.
Posted by
London, UK
286 posts
Planning ahead for Irish and British sunshine does not go together. It is a mixed bag so just suck it up and come if you really want to visit the isles.
This summer was especially wet. In fact, I have the heat on right now!
Posted by
OP
Clarkston, USA
192 posts
We don't really mind rain, guess we were wondering if it ever got horribly hot there at that time of year. I appreciate the mention of Goretex, hadn't thought about that.
When we were in Amsterdam last April, it rained and was darned chilly every single day, and that didn't bother us much...but the wind!! Oh, my gosh, it got windy and it was a very cold wind. Of course...that just gave my friend and I an excuse to buy nice European scarves to keep our necks warm....... :)
Posted by
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2775 posts
Margaret, I spent two weeks in England in August many years ago and had almost no rain at all. I was recently in Ireland for a week and a half in August and had only one day of rain. However, you cannot count on this; I was lucky. I was in Scotland in June of this year and had rain almost every day. But guess what -- we had a great time. Most days it was really light rain. Just make sure you have a waterproof jacket with a hood.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
It was a very rainy day in Ullapool which provided an outstanding excuse to get a new sweater in the Ullapool woolin shop. I've picked up 3 more since in the same shop! They keep me toasty in cool Scottish summers and frigid Wisconsin winters. Although, sadly, I had to haul it out this past week when we had a rather sudden plummet to 50 degrees here one morning. There's always a way to make some lemonade.
Posted by
westminster, md, usa
196 posts
Margaret:
Ditto on the above responses. I have been to Ireland & England during winter, spring, summer and fall. It is a crap shoot! Once spent 4th of July in swealtering heat and high temps (90') in London(thank God for the 2 pair of shorts I packed) and a few days later back in Ireland had to pull out the turtle neck, sweater, heavy socks under my waterproof jacket(a must). The following summer Ireland was sunny and warm...I came back w/a tan and only one day of rain. My winter trip to Ireland wa pretty mild it was average 57 degrees while in the states blizzard was hitting the Northeast. Had a Columbia jacket that was a God send; as it was the wind that could cut thru you!
In spring, summer and early fall I just pack for all types of weather from summer warm to fall cool. I always pack layers; as that way you can layer on or off! The most important think is to stay dry.
Finally, expect the wet weather and just enjoy yourself like you did last April. Just go w/the flow.
Good luck!
slan,