1 Rain and Hail

Scotland and Ireland are the first dropping off places for moisture swept in by winds from the Atlantic Ocean. No wonder then that they are both richly green countries, even at the height of summer. Nor is it surprising that the Scots language has a huge vocabulary of words for all the different kinds of precipitation that make our weather so varied and interesting. 

Rain can smirr, teem, stot, come doon in stair rods, no tak time tae come doon or come doon hale [whole] watter. It can rain auld wives and pipe staples as well as cats and dogs.

There can be an onding, a plump, a plype, a scudder or a blatter. Less dramatically, sometimes the weather is just plowtery, with a spitter or a dreep or a dribble. 

Here is a selection of words to describe most degrees of humidity you are likely to experience.

With global warming, there is a strong possibility that the weather in Scotland will get milder and even wetter. Altogether more mochy. The words in this chapter are therefore likely to become increasingly useful.