The Falkland Islands may lie at roughly the equivalent latitude as London – about 52 degrees from the equator – but the climate of this South Atlantic archipelago is more like Shetland than south-east England.
That’s because the Falklands are in the southern hemisphere, and so do not enjoy the warming influence of the Gulf Stream, which hugely ameliorates the climate of our northernmost archipelago.
Temperatures in the islands’ capital, Stanley, average around 9C in January, and just 2C in July. This very low variation is largely down to the influence of the surrounding ocean, which cools the land during the austral summer but warms it in winter. Snow can fall in almost every month, and rainfall is regular but fairly light, with a total of about 600mm (24 inches) a year.
But the most noticeable aspect of the Falklands climate is the almost constant wind. The islands are just south of the area known as the Roaring Forties: an area dominated by a series of air currents flowing south from the equator towards the south pole, which are exacerbated by a lack of any large landmasses which might slow down the wind speed.
The wind is also the reason why – apart from introduced conifers planted around the farms and other settlements as windbreaks – there are virtually no trees on the island.
.jpg?w=600)
