Snow to rain to gusts: Why is our weather so changeable?

The UK and Ireland have seen shifts of rainfall, gusty conditions, small breaks of clear sky, even snow to start the month. Why is our weather so changeable?

There are two main factors that influence our weather: our location and our air masses.

The UK and Ireland are located between a huge ocean and a large landmass. On top of this, we are situated where six airmasses clash. As a result, we experience a lot of frontal weather systems and a lot of weather.

Most of our weather actually comes from the west or southwest because of the predominant upper-level flow, the so-called jet stream.

As a result, maritime airmasses tend to dominate, giving us unsettled and sometimes windy weather conditions. On some occasions, our air comes from the continent. If this happens, the air is often drier.

The weather we get depends on the movement of air, which we can determine by looking at pressure systems.

In a high pressure system, the air moves in a clockwise direction. In a low pressure system, the air moves in an anti-clockwise direction.

The location of these systems give meteorologists an inclination of what type of airmass and weather the British Isles receives.

So you see, there are a lot of things to consider when looking at the weather and why sometimes it can be so changeable with sudden changes day by day.