Winter on Islay

It has been an unusual winter so far on Islay and it has been great! The normal weather in the winter, as far as we can still talk about any normality in relation to weather, is wet and windy with some wild stormy spells every few weeks. The wet, windy and wild weather pattern persists usually during the months of December, January and February…. and sometimes longer (sigh). Not that there aren’t any dry and sunny days in normal winters but they can be sparse. It’s a time when folk are busy preparing for Christmas and Hogmanay and “hibernate” afterwards until spring arrives in March.

So what’s different this year with the Winter on Islay

Let’s start by saying that we just had the driest January in years. Ian Brooke wrote on his birds blog that his rain gauge came to a mere 3.4 inches which is half the usual amount of rainfall we usually get in January. And it hasn’t been as windy as usual. The major winter storms usually battering our coast have either diverted to more northern regions of have been absent altogether. No complaints here!

The most eye-catching change this winter has been the snow in the last week of January. Islay usually sees snow in the winter, mostly on the hills and on the Paps of Jura on the neighbouring island of Jura. Whatever snow falls in lower parts usually melts away before lunchtime. Not this last week though as we had several days of real snow covering most parts of the island. A treat for the kids and for those who like to observe the world through the lens of a camera. The results of this lovely winter weather are new photos which I have posted in our online shop and on the various social media channels such as Instagram. I hope you enjoy them as I realise that most visitors will never see Islay in the winter. However, If you do decide to visit Islay in the winter you’ll probably won’t regret it.