It’s been a dismal Scottish summer – will August be better?

It is due to the position and orientation of the jet stream, a fast-flowing stream of air in the upper atmosphere which blows west to east across the Atlantic and drives our weather here in Scotland.

The jet has been rather active at times, often blowing either right across us or to our south. Ideally we’d want it to the north of us. The pattern we saw meant often unsettled conditions. It makes low pressure a frequent feature to our west and northwest, bringing cooler air off the Atlantic.

Also, rather than rain-bearing weather fronts, it’s been showers – which are always hit and miss – and which helped the drier conditions in July. The really wet spots were due to convective downpours, focused over the far north east and south east.

There has been a few days where high pressure has built, drawing up some humid and warm weather from the south, but they’ve been short-lived, with the cooler Atlantic air dominating.