Climate - Broad general education (Early to fourth level)
Scotland has cool summers, mild winters and rainfall spread over the course of the year. We have also seen more frequent heavy rainfall events.
Over the last century, Scotland’s climate has become warmer, while changes in rainfall patterns have led to drier summers and wetter winters.
Data
Scotland’s climate trends
What is the average temperature, rainfall or sunshine in my part of Scotland? The Climate Trends application below allows you to change the range of years and region. You can also use it to find out how Scotland’s growing season has changed over the years.
Atmospheric concentrations of important greenhouse gases
How have greenhouse gases changed over history? This graph shows an increase since 1750 when industrial activities began.

How has Scotland’s average surface temperature differed from the 1960-1990 average over the past hundred years?

Maps
View the Met Office climate station map - The climate station map shows around 300 stations across the UK for which 1981-2010 averages are available.
Apps
The UK Met Office Weather Observation Website (WOW)
Find out about weather and submit your own data Can you identify the clouds you see? Can you record the wind speed using the WOW app?
NASA Images of change gallery
NASA's Images of Change galleryNASA's Images of Change gallery features images of different locations on planet Earth, showing change over time periods ranging from centuries to days.
NASA Climate kids
NASA's Climate kids educational gameEducational game from NASA - the goal is to slow the pace of global warming.
Resources
What is the greenhouse effect?
Find out more about the greenhouse effect from this State of the UK climate diagram.

Where do the greenhouse gases come from?
This table of greenhouse gases and industries gives more information about which industries are producing greenhouse gases.
Pages we suggest
- Our environment
- Video
Useful external links
- Adaptation Scotland: Get involved
- SEPA & Centre for Ecology & Hydrology: Choosing and using citizen science
- TCV: Citizen science - a guide for teachers
- Education Scotland: Citizen science & curriculum for excellence
- Natural History Museum & Biological Records Centre: Guide to citizen science
- CAFOD: Climate and environment
- NASA: Climate change and global warming video
- Met Office: Learn about the weather
- Visit Scotland: Scotland's weather and climate
- Keep Scotland Beautiful: Sustainability and climate change
- Met Office: UK regional climates
- Education Scotland: Weather and climate change