Dry County

 

Yes, seriously!  Well, some of Lanarkshire at least ...The reasons behind this are fairly complex but two words sum it perfectly; rain shadow.

The centre of this rain shadow is around the towns of Lanark and Carluke. The southern boundary of this rain shadow is basically the river Clyde and it extends as far west as Uddingston, as far north as Airdrie & Shotts and as far east as Biggar. Once you move south of the Clyde annual rainfall totals increase markedly over surprisingly short distances.

 

Why?

The northern slopes of the Clyde valley are sheltered from many wind directions, particularly the prevailing directions of the southwest quadrant. The higher ground that runs from south of Glasgow, through Eaglesham towards Strathaven and beyond to Tinto Hill acts as a sponge and soaks up a lot of the precipitation that otherwise would fall in North Lanarkshire if the terrain was all flat.

Ok, so it’s not that dry really. But, the next time you think the weather in our county is crap – just remember – if you lived in Larkhall, East Kilbride or anywhere on the south side of the Clyde valley – it’s usually raining a bit harder and for a while longer.