Growing up in Manchester in the 1970s and 1980s, with a mother from Crumpsall and a father from Edgeley, it was often pointed out that there was another factor in Manchester's reputation as a rainy city: Pollution. We had the coal-fired power station, roughly where the Etihad now stands, which pumped pollution into the atmosphere, seeding the skies in anticipation of the saturated incoming clouds and weather fronts. The Clean Air Acts and the closure of the power station made some difference (you need only compare the colour of the brickwork on the photographs from the 1930s to the cleaned-up versions now on display in the city centre), but the underlying issue of rising altitude and cooling air remains.
Call me crazy, but I actually quite like the rain. Nothing like the feeling of being soaked to the bone listening to moody music then warning up back home. Plus the rain makes you appreciate those periods of dry weather, and provides ample opportunity for conversation with strangers
Love it! I'm fascinated by weather, which is as important to me (cyclist and sailor) as it is to hang-gliders. Did you know it takes around 20 minutes for the average raindrop to fall from the average raincloud? Not much use when the sky is a mass of dark cloud, but handy to know if you've several different errands to make on your bike on a showery day. As a longterm adopted Mancunian (I grew up in Essex) I have found a shared acceptance of our rain unites us in resignation - "well, it's Manchester, innit?"
Lovely article. BTW, radio 4 'more or less' did a really good explanation of what the % rain prediction in weather apps actually means (and it's not what you think).
Loved this also, great read had me chuckling. I'm glad that The Mill has officially laid this to rest. We are a 'fairly rainy city' :+) right back to watching the rain this morning!
I love this piece, & thanks for it Daniel. As I scan the sky & apps, I know the Aussies have invoked the rain gods. So, I’m pleasantly reminded that in the 1980s it was my job to visit the wettest & driest places on earth (making schools television programmes for Key stage 3 & 4 geography). So, this rain-hardened Manc is sinking into swamp that is the volcanic peak of Mount Wai’ale’ale, KauaI in the Hawaiian islands, where it rains 360 days a year, with an annual total of as much as 17,300mm
Three days later, & in a different wardrobe, standing by Lake Chungara in Chile near the border with Bolivia, in the mesmerising Atacama desert, I passed through settlements where rainfall, if any, was 1mm a year, & some where it hadn’t rained for 400 years.
Needless to say, I don’t think we’d made much of a calculation of our carbon footprint on this mammoth trek.
I enjoyed that thank you, i think there’s another reason Manchester wouldn’t be Manchester without the rain - isn’t the damp air the reason why we had so many mills around these parts in the Industrial Revolution, it dampened down the cotton fibres during spinning?
Good one. I remember discovering at the time Manchester was up for the Olympics, and getting weather-related stuck from Oz, that we get less rain than Sydney. Later we staged the Commonwealth Games through a glorious sunny fortnight, but that was remembered for the biblical scale deluge at the closing ceremony. Personally I quite like rain, but then I was raised in the Lake Dustrict where it is proper wet.
Yes Manchester gets its share of rain but it is routinely compared with London which is an unusually dry part of UK. Also, according to the Sunday Telegraph weekly weather round up, apparently we get similar and often better amount of sunshine than even London.
Growing up in Manchester in the 1970s and 1980s, with a mother from Crumpsall and a father from Edgeley, it was often pointed out that there was another factor in Manchester's reputation as a rainy city: Pollution. We had the coal-fired power station, roughly where the Etihad now stands, which pumped pollution into the atmosphere, seeding the skies in anticipation of the saturated incoming clouds and weather fronts. The Clean Air Acts and the closure of the power station made some difference (you need only compare the colour of the brickwork on the photographs from the 1930s to the cleaned-up versions now on display in the city centre), but the underlying issue of rising altitude and cooling air remains.
Call me crazy, but I actually quite like the rain. Nothing like the feeling of being soaked to the bone listening to moody music then warning up back home. Plus the rain makes you appreciate those periods of dry weather, and provides ample opportunity for conversation with strangers
Love it! I'm fascinated by weather, which is as important to me (cyclist and sailor) as it is to hang-gliders. Did you know it takes around 20 minutes for the average raindrop to fall from the average raincloud? Not much use when the sky is a mass of dark cloud, but handy to know if you've several different errands to make on your bike on a showery day. As a longterm adopted Mancunian (I grew up in Essex) I have found a shared acceptance of our rain unites us in resignation - "well, it's Manchester, innit?"
Lovely article. BTW, radio 4 'more or less' did a really good explanation of what the % rain prediction in weather apps actually means (and it's not what you think).
Loved this also, great read had me chuckling. I'm glad that The Mill has officially laid this to rest. We are a 'fairly rainy city' :+) right back to watching the rain this morning!
I love this piece, & thanks for it Daniel. As I scan the sky & apps, I know the Aussies have invoked the rain gods. So, I’m pleasantly reminded that in the 1980s it was my job to visit the wettest & driest places on earth (making schools television programmes for Key stage 3 & 4 geography). So, this rain-hardened Manc is sinking into swamp that is the volcanic peak of Mount Wai’ale’ale, KauaI in the Hawaiian islands, where it rains 360 days a year, with an annual total of as much as 17,300mm
Three days later, & in a different wardrobe, standing by Lake Chungara in Chile near the border with Bolivia, in the mesmerising Atacama desert, I passed through settlements where rainfall, if any, was 1mm a year, & some where it hadn’t rained for 400 years.
Needless to say, I don’t think we’d made much of a calculation of our carbon footprint on this mammoth trek.
I enjoyed that thank you, i think there’s another reason Manchester wouldn’t be Manchester without the rain - isn’t the damp air the reason why we had so many mills around these parts in the Industrial Revolution, it dampened down the cotton fibres during spinning?
Good one. I remember discovering at the time Manchester was up for the Olympics, and getting weather-related stuck from Oz, that we get less rain than Sydney. Later we staged the Commonwealth Games through a glorious sunny fortnight, but that was remembered for the biblical scale deluge at the closing ceremony. Personally I quite like rain, but then I was raised in the Lake Dustrict where it is proper wet.
Ps. Would like to see the actual number of hours it rains as I think we may lead the world in drizzle.
It is the frequency of the rain which is very high in mcr, not the volume. 15th rainiest city. 6th most rainy days - tied with Salford...
Yes Manchester gets its share of rain but it is routinely compared with London which is an unusually dry part of UK. Also, according to the Sunday Telegraph weekly weather round up, apparently we get similar and often better amount of sunshine than even London.