This summer may have felt like a washout, but there were plenty of spells of warm sunshine in many places. It was a different story in Scotland though, where the weather has been cold, wet and windy through much of spring as well as summer. The rains came down in particularly heavy torrents in July and August with some places setting local rainfall records. That played havoc with outdoor events, turning music festivals into quagmires and stopping play at the Open Championship at St Andrews.
According to the National Farmers’ Union Scotland, it has been the wettest summer for 30 years in parts of Scotland. The wheat and barley harvests are late and wet, although drier conditions expected over the next few days will bring some welcome relief. Potato crops are two to three weeks behind normal and some potatoes may have to stay in the ground until November. Rainfall over the next few weeks will prove critical for potatoes that have not yet matured.
The dismal conditions have also taken a heavy toll on plants and wildlife, with heather battered and damaged, and the numbers of puffins badly hit. Bees have faced starvation, with keepers forced to spend thousands of pounds feeding their colonies sugar syrup to keep them alive. Hives are producing a fraction of their usual honey, and this year’s yield is expected to be the worst since 1985.
The most diabolical weather of all has been in the Highlands, where freezing conditions have led to snow falling on the highest summits. Mountain-rescue teams have been inundated with call-outs, especially in the Lochaber region, which includes Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain. Many of the emergencies have involved walkers suffering from exhaustion in the wet and cold; the team at Lochaber is expecting this to be their busiest year on record.
There has been one silver lining to this sorry story: it has been a record summer for the amount of energy generated by wind turbines in Scotland.