by Gareth Wild

Created on: February 02, 2010

I was born in Trafford, Manchester and raised nearby in Cheshire. Manchester has the tag "Rainy City". This is fairly true as it does have a considerably high rainfall due to its location in the North of England. It is a temperate maritime climate. This is similar to the majority of the British Isles. There is a fairly mild winter and a cool summer. 806 mm is the average rainfall for the area which mainly falls as light rain throughout the year rather than torrential rain but it can happen.

August can be the wettest month with an average of 79 mm falling and the driest month on average is usually February or April.

Manchester is located north of Cheshire and east of the East coast of England. It is fairly close to the coast so has a maritime climate, it has the Pennine mountains to the north and east of it. Having these hilly areas leads to rain clouds coming in from the coast shedding their rain loads onto the area directly beneath them, In this case it is Manchester.

Manchester is situated in a bowl shape land, the base being formed by the Cheshire Plains. A flat area surrounded by the hills of the High Peak and the Pennine hills. In the winter these areas quite often have much snow fall on them and as this melts the humidity increases leading to a increased amount of rainfall than would usually be expected in these upland areas. There are many rivers in the area also leading to increases in humidity and precipitation.

The damp climate was ideal for the cotton production in the area as the damp humid air prevents the cotton breaking so easily when it is being weaved into the cotton cloth the area is famed for.

The temperature over the year on average is 1 degree centigrade in the winter through to about 19 degrees centigrade mid summer.

The climate is pleasant and is similar to the south of England but not quite as mild and slightly wetter. The centre of Manchester is slightly drier and warmer due to the heat generated from the buildings and pollution from traffic fumes. The same effect occurs in London but more marked. Manchester has less fumes as some of the public transport is electric trams so therefore no fumes emitted.

The figures for the rainfall and average temperature were taken at Manchester Airport which is on the outskirts of the conurbation of Manchester.

Learn more about this author, Gareth Wild.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.