With summer departing, it’s time to see the light
IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times this summer. Wales, northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland have had one of the warmest summers on record. But in the south of England, it has been the opposite: much wetter, colder and duller than average.
This week, we will be reunited with similar weather all over: cloudy with temperatures in the teens or low 20Cs. There will be sporadic breaks in the clouds for rain, and also for sun. But overall, clouds will sit placidly in the sky: an “aëry nest as still as a brooding dove”, as Percy Bysshe Shelley put it.
With so many clouds on the horizon, take time to appreciate how the light looks different. In the day, the reflective white of the clouds can make it seem brighter. But at night, the effects are varied. If you are in a rural area, it might seem profoundly dark. The cloud covers the Moon and stars like a thick blanket, making the sky look perfectly black.
But if you’re in a built-up area, clouds will have the opposite effect. The light from street lamps, car headlights, shops and homes will bounce off the shiny white layer of cloud, making it brighter than usual. Nights may appear as a perpetual orange dusk: the black velvet sky and dazzling stars obscured by light pollution and cloud.
Along with changing light levels, so much cloud combined with relative warmth might make the air feel close.
The wind won’t help, either. In most of the country, it will dawdle along as a breeze, without enough puff to push the clouds away. It might be another week before the wind picks up enough to start stripping the first leaves off the trees.