Keswick Weather - Did You Realise How Much It Rains in The Lakes?

It was only when I moved away from the Lakes that I realised that other places didn't seem to rain quite as much, but I've never actually looked at the numbers to see if the weather in the Lakes really is that much worse.

So, I'm going to take this opportunity to compare Keswick weather with that of the UK capital London just a couple of hundred miles away.

Keswick is a beautiful market town which is situated in the Northern Lake District, it sits between two lakes; the relatively quiet lake Bassenthwaite and the much busier and closer Derwent Water. It's also at the foot of England's 4th highest fell Skiddaw.

The name Lake District in itself gives away the fact that the Weather in Keswick is likely to be wetter than elsewhere but Questions I'd like to cover here are:

1. What weather difference can we actually see compared to elsewhere in the UK? 2. How do these differences vary by season? 3. If it really does rain more in Keswick and the Lake district than in other places in the UK, what are the reasons for this?

Firstly lets investigate if there really is a difference in the weather in Keswick and other parts of the country, I'll compare vs the most populated city in the UK, London.

Average temperature Centigrade

Month London

January - 5 February - 5 March - 8 April - 9 May - 13 June - 16 July - 18 August - 18 September - 16 October - 12 November - 8 December - 6

Month Keswick

January - 5 February - 4 March - 6 April - 10 May - 12 June - 15 July - 17 August - 16 September - 14 October - 10 November - 7 December - 4

In Absolute terms, the temperature in Keswick is generally colder than London, however this is usually only by between 1- 2 degrees, in % terms December is 33% colder but the maximum difference is 2C.

To investigate a little further I've looked at the average temperature range between high and low for the two locations -

Temperature range Centigrade

Month London

January - 5 February - 5 March - 7 April - 8 May - 9 June - 9 July - 10 August - 10 September - 9 October - 6 November - 6 December - 4

Month Keswick

January - 3 February - 4 March - 4 April - 5 May - 5 June - 4 July - 5 August - 5 September - 4 October - 5 November - 3 December - 4

From this we can see that while the average temperatures don't show significant variance the range of temperatures in London are roughly double those of Keswick between March to November, whats more the actual figures show that the variance is significantly skewed to the higher temperatures, so in conclusion London can be significantly warmer than Keswick.

Now lets take a look at rainfall -

Rainfall mm

Month London

January - 60 February - 40 March - 60 April - 50 May - 50 June - 60 July - 50 August - 50 September - 40 October - 70 November - 40 December - 60

Month Keswick

January - 164 February - 141 March - 118 April - 85 May - 71 June - 76 July - 62 August - 91 September - 89 October - 155 November - 137 December - 164

As you can see the figures are quite startling and show that between the month's of September to March there is much more rainfall in Keswick than London, for example in each of the months December and January there is over 100mm more rain in Keswick and in February there is 3.5 times the amount of rain that falls in London.

Seasonal Variation

Variation in average temperature by season is fairly static, there is a greater increase in the monthly temperature range over summer in London, however the major difference can be seen when comparing rainfall levels. While in absolute terms Keswick has more rain than London for each month of the year this is markedly so during Autumn, winter and early spring.

Why does it Rain More in Keswick?

So, now that we've established that it really does rain more in Keswick than London, what are the reasons for this? It's actually quite simple, the Lake District and Keswick are relatively close to the Sea, the prevailing westerly winds blow across the Atlantic and pick up moisture. As the clouds hit the Lake district or more specifically the Lake District mountains, the air is forced to rise, this in turn cools the air and the moisture picked up condenses and turns into water. This is termed Relief or orographic rainfall.

In conclusion it's generally a little colder in Keswick than London but the main difference is the rainfall, while visiting in the summer months you won't see such a significant difference in absolute terms in the Autumn and winter months you need to go prepared for rain... however this is the Lakes, it's a place of adventure so don't hide from the rain.. embrace it in the great outdoors!