The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Aberdeen in top 20 UK cities that get most rainfall
Weather: Highland capital is no. 32
Aberdeen has been listed among the top 20 wettest cities in the UK.
Using Met Office data, weather bloggers Free flush have ranked 63 UK cities based on annual rainfall and have given the new “damp crown” to Cardiff after it experienced 170 days of rain and 1,152mm of rainfall.
Perth washed up at number 23, closely followed by Stirling 30, Inverness 32 and Dundee at 35.
Averaging statistics from the last 35 years, Aberdeen came out at number 20 with an average of 139 days of rain every year and 815mm of rainfall.
Third in the UK list, Glasgow topped the Scottish cities with 170 rainy days and deluges of 1,124mm. Edinburgh splashed at the bottom with only 124 wet days and a puddle of only 704mm per year.
Other cities in the top five were St David’s, Bangor and Truro. Manchester’s reputation of being the “rainy city” was in tatters after slipping down to number 15.
London had a mere 109 days of rain and 557mm of rainfall annually.
Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge wanted to clarify that not all of the data had been checked but said: “Areas in the east of Scotland would expect less rainfall than other areas perhaps to the west.
“The prevailing weather normally comes from the Atlantic where you get humid air coming in and that will bring with it rainfall when that air gets up to the mountains – by the time it gets across to eastern Scotland it will have got rid of a lot of the moisture where it has fallen as rain on the west coast and highlands.
“Geography is at play. Where Aberdeen is concerned, not all of the rain will be stopped on the mountains and more rain can come in from the north and north-easterly. Over the course of the year Aberdeen gets weather coming from all points of the compass.”
“Aberdeen gets weather from all points of the compass”