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Why is London warmer than the rest of the uk?

mintbromintbro Posts: 6,733
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in General Discussion #1
Going by the BBC weather app at this time of year there's always a huge difference in temperature in London to the rest of the uk

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    CravenHavenCravenHaven Posts: 13,953
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    #2
    why is it colder out in the countryside?
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    Flash525Flash525 Posts: 8,862
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    #3
    Probably something to do with all the fumes in the London atmosphere. Big cities tend to retain heat.
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    Pumping IronPumping Iron Posts: 29,891
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    #4
    Urban heat sprawl.
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    jp761jp761 Posts: 33,417
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    #5
    Inland.

    And the population numbers. Body heat.

    Kidding. :p But the accumulation of body heat in large cities, may have been studied somewhere who knows.
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    gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,625
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    #6
    Concrete jungle absorbs heat from the sun more quickly than rural idyll.
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    duckyluckyduckylucky Posts: 13,862
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    #7
    Its called urban heat . Large cities are warmer due to retention of heat , population and lighting
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    coughthecatcoughthecat Posts: 6,876
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    #8
    mintbro wrote: »
    Going by the BBC weather app at this time of year there's always a huge difference in temperature in London to the rest of the uk

    Quite a few reasons ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island
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    Michael_EveMichael_Eve Posts: 14,460
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    #9
    Mixture of Urban Heat and all the hot air emanating from the House of Commons...
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    plateletplatelet Posts: 26,386
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    #10
    It's the layer of smug. It retains the hot air
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    MoleskinMoleskin Posts: 3,098
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    #11
    platelet wrote: »
    It's the layer of smug. It retains the hot air

    It's actually called smog.






















    Nah, I know you're joking ;-)
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    valkayvalkay Posts: 15,726
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    #12
    Because it's further south. However there does seem to be some truth in it, when my grandparents lived in London and I used to visit them from the Midlands, it always seemed to be a few degrees warmer there.
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    RaferRafer Posts: 14,231
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    #13
    More politicians per square inch than any other part of the country. So more hot air gets generated.
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    bluebladeblueblade Posts: 88,859
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    #14
    gomezz wrote: »
    Concrete jungle absorbs heat from the sun more quickly than rural idyll.

    Indeed, and retains it at night.

    Which is why London is indeed warmer than the rest of the country.
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    RorschachRorschach Posts: 10,818
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    #15
    valkay wrote: »
    Because it's further south. However there does seem to be some truth in it, when my grandparents lived in London and I used to visit them from the Midlands, it always seemed to be a few degrees warmer there.

    Whilst the news often ignores the fact there are (amazingly) parts of the rest of the U.K. that are even further south than London. Kent (for example) is further south but also generally colder than London due to it's coastline and lack of urban heat. 😀
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    d'@ved'@ve Posts: 45,531
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    #16
    If wer are talking annual mean temperature, Greater London is indeed the largest "warmest" part of the UK... but there are other pockets too that are essentially just as warm. The largest other 'warmest' area is around The Solent (Southampton - Portsmouth - northern Isle of Wight) but there are a few even smaller "warmest" pockets around the coast of south west England as well.

    For the summer season (June - Aug), much of the south eastern third of England has average maximum temperatures just over 21 degrees C (SE of Wash-Dorset, with patches further west), so the afternoon heat is spread out much more than people might think although in July, London stands out as the heat capital of the UK!
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    annette kurtenannette kurten Posts: 39,543
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    #17
    density.
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    MudboxMudbox Posts: 10,110
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    #18
    it's all the black cabs; black absorbs heat.
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    AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,366
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    #19
    Well its inhabitants do produce a lot of hot air. :)
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    phylo_roadkingphylo_roadking Posts: 21,339
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    #20
    All urban areas are the same to some extent, whatever the latitude. Belfast for example....if you go out of it to the north south or east you go uphill...and within a Cpl.of miles the temperature noticably drops two degrees or so. Go west along flat ground and it only drops of about 50% of that...but does still drop off after a couple of miles. And that's a city roughly 450 miles north of London, it does occur pro rata wherever you are.
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    Fish_and_ChipsFish_and_Chips Posts: 1,333
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    #21
    Flash525 wrote: »
    Probably something to do with all the fumes in the London atmosphere. Big cities tend to retain heat.
    i bet all that lovely diesel keeps it from escaping the streets and surrounding bits.
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    BodyElectricBodyElectric Posts: 486
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    #22
    It's not just London. Where I am in the SE is often so much more warmer/humid and less breezy than the rest of the country. As someone who is more comfortable in a cooler climate I live in the wrong place!
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