Guide to the seasons
Although the seasonal differences in Britain are not as extreme as in some countries, there is still a large difference between winter and summer. The year is split into four seasons roughly each 3 months long, though the weather in Britain can be very erratic and so the seasons often overlap or don’t follow the standard pattern.
Winter (December to February)
Winter http://www.foreignstudents.com/guide-to-britain/british-culture/weather/seasons is the coldest month in the UK, running roughly from December to February (although November can often suffer very wintry conditions too). Temperatures often get as low as freezing point (0oC), though not too much colder usually. This leads to frost in the mornings, ice on car windscreens and roads, and sometimes snow fall. British winters are usually very wet and windy as well, so make sure you wrap up warm and waterproof. To add to the miserable weather, the hours of daylight are very short during the winter, with days in London getting as short as 8 hours at the end of December.
Spring (March to May)
- warm temperatures
- longer days
- trees regain leaves
Average Temp.: 9.3oC- 15.4oC
Summer (June to August)
In theory summer in the UK should be hot and dry. In practice it is only hot in spells and it still rains quite a bit most summers. It is best to think of it as a way of making the hot days feel more special. On such days, temperatures can reach 30oC, though not much higher, and the British public make the most of it. People swarm to beaches, sit out in parks and generally revel in the hot temperatures. This is matched by the increased hours of daylight which reach almost 17 hours in London in mid June.
The Summer Is Magic
Autumn (September to November)
Autumn marks the gradual change from summer to winter and is probably the season with the biggest range in weather conditions. Septembers and even Octobers in Britain can often still be summery, recently even recording higher temperatures than August. Equally, Novembers can be very cold, and the UK sometimes even experiences widespread snow fall (like in 2010). In general, it is usually quite wet and windy in autumn though it is so variable that one year after another, autumns can seem like different seasons.
