Geography of Glasgow

Glasgow weather is typical of Scottish weather and often unpredictable. Despite its northerly latitude, similar to that of Moscow, Glasgow's climate is classified as oceanic (Köppen Cfb). Data is available online for 3 official weather stations in the Glasgow area: Paisley, Abbotsinch and Bishopton. All are located to the west of the city, in neighbouring Renfrewshire. Owing to its westerly position and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Glasgow is one of Scotland's milder areas. Winter temperatures are usually higher than in most places of equal latitude away from the UK, due to the warming influence of the Gulf Stream. However, this results in less distinct seasons as compared to continental Western Europe. At Paisley, the annual precipitation averages 1,245 mm (49.0 in). Glasgow has been named as the rainiest city of the UK, having an average of 170 days of rain a year.^[2][3]

The summer months (May to September) can be fine and sunny and mild. The winds are generally westerly, due to warm Gulf Stream. The warmest month, on average is July, averaging over 20 °C. However it can be very changeable, and normally a few degrees colder than southern England. Mornings can be damp and misty, or "dreich" (a Scottish word for damp and drizzly) and by afternoon sunny and warm. Spring (March to May) is fairly mild and is a popular time to visit Glasgow. Though some days are rainy and windy, Many of Glasgow's trees begin to flower at this time of the year and Glasgow's parks and gardens are filled with spring colour. Winters in Glasgow can be long and damp with fewer sunny days (though surprisingly warmer than other countries on the same latitude as Glasgow due to the effects of the Gulf Stream). The winds can be chilling and cold, though severe snow is infrequent and doesn't last too long. December, January and February are the wettest months of the year, though can be sunny if not warm.

Winters are cool and overcast, with a January mean of 5.0 °C (41.0 °F), though lows sometimes fall below freezing. Since 2000 Glasgow has experienced few very cold, snowy and harsh winters where temperatures have fallen much below freezing. The most extreme instances have however seen temperatures around −12 °C (10 °F) in the area. Snowfall accumulation is infrequent and short-lived. The spring months (March to May) are usually mild and often quite pleasant. Many of Glasgow's trees and plants begin to flower at this time of the year and parks and gardens are filled with spring colours. During the summer months (June to August) the weather can vary considerably from day to day, ranging from relatively cool and wet to quite warm with the odd sunny day. Long dry spells of warm weather are generally quite scarce. Overcast and humid conditions without rain are frequent. Generally the weather pattern is quite unsettled and erratic during these months, with only occasional heatwaves. The warmest month is usually July, with average highs above 20 °C (68 °F). Summer days can occasionally reach up to 27 °C (81 °F), and very rarely exceed 30 °C (86 °F). Autumns are generally cool to mild with increasing precipitation. During early autumn there can be some settled periods of weather and it can feel pleasant with mild temperatures and some sunny days.

The official Met Office data series goes back to 1959 and shows that there only have been a few warm and no hot summers in Glasgow, in stark contrast to areas further south in Great Britain and eastwards in Europe. The warmest month on record in the data series is July 2006, with an average high of 22.7 °C (72.9 °F) and low of 13.7 °C (56.7 °F).^[4] Even this extreme event only matched a normal summer on similar parallels in continental Europe, underlining the maritime influences.

Temperature extremes have ranged from −19.9 °C (−4 °F), at Abbotsinch in December 1995 to^[5] 31.9 °C (89 °F) at Bishopton in June 2018.^[6]

Glasgow's population peaked in 1931 at 1,088,000, and for over 40 years remained over 1 million. However, in the 1960s the population started to decline, partly due to relocation to the "new towns" in clearings of the poverty-stricken inner city areas like the Gorbals. In addition, successive boundary changes reduced the official city boundaries (and hence its official population) making direct comparisons difficult as the city expands beyond the local council boundaries.

Source: 2001 Census "Demographia.com". Retrieved 10 December 2006.

Due to council boundary changes since the 1991 census, Greater Glasgow has four distinct definitions for the population of Glasgow in the 2001 Census: the smallest is the new Glasgow City Council Area (which lost the district of Rutherglen to South Lanarkshire in 1996), the Greater Glasgow Health Board area (covered by the local NHS Trust), the City of Glasgow Locality Area (formerly Glasgow District Council Area) and the Greater Glasgow Metropolitan Settlement Area (including surrounding localities).

Source 2001 Census

Since the 2001 census the population decline has stabilised. The 2004 population of the city council area was 585,090 and the population of both the City of Glasgow Council area and Greater Glasgow are forecast to grow in the near future. Around 2,300,000^[11] people live in the Greater Glasgow conurbation, defined as the City of Glasgow and the surrounding region.

Compared to Inner London (22,438 people per square mile), Scotland's major city has less than half the current population density of the English capital (8,528). However, in 1931 the population density was 16,011, highlighting the subsequent "clearances" to the suburbs and new towns that were built to empty one of Europe's most densely populated cities.^[12]