Characteristics of Cairndow's Climate

Cairndow's climate is very wet but also relatively mild compared to other parts of the world at the same latitude (distance from the equator). Cairndow's climate is kept mild by warm ocean currents which move across the North Atlantic Ocean (see diagram (A)). The first of these is the Gulf Stream which flows from the tropical Gulf of Mexico up the east coast of the USA. The Gulf Stream continues and flows east across the North Atlantic. Here it is called the North Atlantic Drift. As well as keeping the climate of Western Scotland mild the North Atlantic Drift has a stabilising effect on the temperature throughout the year. Graph (1) compares the temperature of Cairndow with London and shows clearly that temperatures go up and down more througout the year in London than in Cairndow.

(A) Ocean Currents	(B) Why is Cairndow so wet?	(1) Average Temperatures
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Most of the air masses which affect Cairndow move across the Atlantic from the south west. As air moves over the warm ocean currents it picks up a lot of moisture from the sea via evaporation. What happens when the air meets the West of Scotland is shown in diagram (B). This explains why Cairndow's climate is so wet.

Rainfall

Here in Cairndow we get a lot of rain (over 2m per year!). This is much more than in other parts of Britain. Graph (2) shows just how much rain we get compared to Edinburgh and London - Cairndow gets more than three times as much.

Although Cairndow gets a lot of rain each year, the rainfall is not evenly spread over the year. Winter months tend to be much wetter than summer. The average rainfall for each month of the year is shown on Graph (3). You can see that the driest month is May and the wettest is usually December.

Is Cairndow getting even wetter?

Graph (4) shows how Cairndow's rainfall has changed over time. It indicates that the average rainfall in Cairndow has increased over the last 50 years. If this continues then Cairndow will get even wetter in the next 10 or 20 years. Some scientists say this will happen as the result of Global Warming.

(2) Compare Rainfall	(3) Monthly Rainfall.	(4) Changing Rainfall.
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Climate Change

Global Warming, caused by the build up of Greenhouse Gases in the Earth's atmosphere could cause major changes to the climate of Cairndow. It is very difficult for scientists to predict exactly what the climate will be like in the future - its hard enough to predict the weather more than a few days in advance!

Scientists advising the Scottish Executive used computer models to try and predict how the climate might change in the West of Scotland. They suggest that by the end of this century (the year 2100) Scotland will be warmer by an average of 2-3°C. Furthermore precipitation (rainfall) will increase by 20% - that's another 400mm for Cairndow. The models also predict that the weather will become more extreme i.e. heat waves will be even hotter, cold spells colder and the weather will be generally more stormy. This would cause increases in flooding and storm damage across Scotland and unpleasant weather could put off tourists.

Some scientists predict that the climate of Scotland may become colder in the future. They suggest that the North Atlantic Drift which keeps western Scotland warm might fail as Global Warming progresses. This would cause Scotland to get colder with more heavy snow falls and frost especially in winter.