Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

The unpredictability of British weather is legendary. How often have we left home in blazing sunshine and it’s rained? Hard. Or left home in full waterproofs only to find the exact opposite? Mother Nature does so like to test us!

This week’s photo was taken on Saltburn beach, on the North East coast. This, a day when pretty much the whole country was bathed in warm sunshine… except for the North East. Where warm, moist air moves over the cold North Sea, it condenses, forming a sea fog (called haar, in meteorology). Common in summer, this can significantly reduce temperatures and (as in this case) penetrate only a few hundred metres before returning to sunshine inland.
 
Expecting to photograph beach landscapes, your photography need not suffer, for an atmospheric, almost ethereal photo opportunity arrives. Ghostly figures walk in and out of the mist, giving an entirely different view of the coastline.
 
There’s very little weather we don’t experience in the UK, so as we roll through this Spring warm spell, let’s not forget that Mother Nature always has surprises in store.