The Four Seasons – Weather or Not

“Did you have good weather?” It’s the first question people ask when you get back from holiday and the answer is not always yes!

It’s every holidaymakers’ nightmare: you have painstakingly planned your trip, checked the weather predictions for where you are going and made sure it is the best time to go to see and do the things you want to do,  forked out thousands of pounds and counted down the days until you can put your ‘out of office’ on – only to find that the holiday you booked isn’t the one you actually get due to something completely out of everyone’s control – The Weather!

People often ask me what the weather will be like for their choice of destination but it is not always an easy question to answer

Typically we know the average temperatures for the various times of year – we know when the rainy seasons are, when hurricanes or typhoons are expected and when the hottest months are to travel but this is not so definite any more

Season Creep is the term used to describe the way Climate change is disrupting the natural cycle of seasons – we only need to look back at our recent burst of Spring weather and record breaking February temperatures to see how the Four Seasons have shifted as weather and temperature patterns have been altered

Passengers who travelled in April last year to see the Cherry blossoms in Japan completely missed the season as the blossoms have been emerging earlier in recent years due to climate change – they actually saw more blossom when they landed back in Gatwick that they saw during their entire stay in Tokyo

The last couple of years Norway has seen a heatwave at the end of April, I had passengers cruising the Norwegian Fjords with amazing temperatures and yet at the same time others cruising in the Canary Islands saw grey overcast skies, cold weather and rain

Similarly I had a number of passengers head out to New England in late September last year – typically a great time to see the Autumn Fall Colours  with warm daytimes – only to find they were too late and had missed the season also disappointed as they expected far warmer temperatures than the single figures they experienced

Last October  – usually a nice warm time to visit – Venice was flooded and had been inundated by an exceptional high tide and heavy winds which put three-quarters of the lagoon city under water, amazing images emerged of tourists knee deep in flood water in St Marks square

River cruising has been particularly badly affected in Europe and Asia with low water levels causing huge disruption at times of the year not previously affected

My advice is expect the unexpected and pack for all weather and remember to take an umbrella just in case!