A record of my journey in landscape photography and commentary on related matters.
Thursday 18 February 2016
The challenges of landscape photography in an Oceanic climate
The Mountain Forecast provides an excellent insight into the weather of the world's mountains and it makes for some interesting comparisons.
Grand Casse is in the Graian Alps and at 3,852m is the highest summit in the Vanoise massif and in a Humid Continental climate.
3852m from www.mountain-forecast.com
and lower down
1000m from www.mountain-forecast.com
Store Lenangstind, 1624m is a mountain in the Lyngen Alps, Troms, Norway and subject to a subarctic / subpolar oceanic climate.
1624m from www.mountain-forecast.com
0m from www.mountain-forecast.com
Now a look at the forecast for Ben More Assynt, in the NW Highlands of Scotland at just under a 1000m in height at the summit and in an Oceanic climate
998m from www.mountain-forecast.com
At 0m
0m from www.mountain-forecast.com
With a weather forecast for the UK it really does pay to consult as many forecasts as possible, if everyone is singing from the same songsheet there's a good probability of increased accuracy
The Met Office Mountain Weather Forecast makes equally grim reading
Met Office Mountain Weather Forecast
and the detail
Met Office Mountain Weather Forecast
If the weather forecast for the summit of Grande Casse appeared on a UK Mountain Weather Forecast, there would be a lot of outdoor enthusiasts planning trips, albeit packing extra warm clothing, the weather forecast for Store Lenangstind, not so good and Ben More Assynt not unusual, it doesn't even rate having a storm name and it is worth noting that the highest forecast winds at 3852m on Grand Casse are less than the forecast sea level winds for the NW Highlands of Scotland. I'll concede that the the wind chill temperatures forecast for Grand Casse are pretty grim, but note the forecast wind chill on Ben More Assynt, 2,864m lower than Grand Casse and with rain in the forecast too. The windchill at sea level in the NW Highlands is similar to the windchill at sea level inside the Arctic Circle and a reason why UK Coroner's verdicts of death by fatal hypothermia are issued for ill fated outdoor enthusiasts. Even at lower elevations the winds in the UK have a severely limiting effect on what can be photographed.
Rolling the Weather Dice in an Oceanic climate
The UK is affected by the following air streams, that in addition to the vigour of the Jet Stream, will have a profound influence on what the landscape photographer will attempt to photograph.
Polar Maritime
Returning Polar Maritime
Arctic Maritime
Polar Continental
Tropical Continental
Tropical Maritime
The weather dice are loaded though and a betting shop would offer a spread of odds on an air stream at certain times of the year and that's where climate maps are a useful source of info in planning a landscape photography trip. The climate maps produced by the Met Office provide a visual indication of the UK's climate and breakdowns are available by season, month and year.
I'll post a future article with some thoughts on how to mitigate some of the challenges posed by an Oceanic climate.
It also makes for an interesting analysis of the enthusiasms and appetite of the UK's landscape photography community, when climate, road atlases and topographic maps of the UK are compared with portfolios and galleries.
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