Bournemouth Rain Patterns Explained - Bournemouth Weather Forecast - Rain, Sun, Snow, Wind, Temperature
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Bournemouth Rain Patterns Explained
It rains less on Bournemouth beach than it does at home!
When the rain falls over Bournemouth it tends to be split in to two distinct areas, the surrounding urban areas and secondly the beach area. In over 40 years of living in Bournemouth I have found it always seems to follow this divided but predictable precipitation pattern.
The first distinct rainfall region is only a mile inland from the Bournemouth coast line, this area receives noticeably MORE rain. This is because the surrounding area's land mass is quite hilly, causing the prevailing wind that blows in from the sea to rise and then condense as it hits the cooler air above. The condensing of this air will then turn to water, if there is plenty of moisture in the air, it will then turn to rain showers. Amazingly this rain will quite often only fall on the urban areas of Bournemouth but leave the beach totally dry. As a general rule more precipitation always falls on the windward side of any large land mass than on the leeward side and Bournemouth is no different. I have quite often enjoyed a nice time at the beach knowing that there is rain falling right behind us. Sometimes you can clearly see a distinctive line of dark grey clouds spanning the horizon, over the surrounding houses but we are still in full sunshine, makes you feel very smug. That is not to say that we never get rain at the beach, it just tends to be lighter and less frequent. The only way to know for sure if it is a splashing about in the sea day or a rainy one is by driving down to the shore for a quick look. Or of course you can always check out our webcam page. You might be pleasantly surprised!