East England

Travel Guide Europe United Kingdom England East England

Introduction

The East of England is one of nine official regions of England. It was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Essex has the highest population in the region.

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Geography

The region has the lowest elevation range in the UK. North Cambridgeshire and the Essex Coast have most of the around 5% of the region which is below 10 metres above sea level. The Fens are partly in North Cambridgeshire which is notable for the lowest point in the country in the land of the village of Holme 2.75 metres below mean sea level which was once Whittlesey Mere.

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Counties

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Cities

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Weather

East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom with average rainfall ranging from 450 mm to 750 mm. This is usually because low pressure systems and weather fronts from the Atlantic have lost a lot of their moisture over land (and therefore are usually a lot weaker) by the time they reach Eastern England. However the Fens in Cambridgeshire are prone to flooding should a strong system affect the area.

Winter (mid November - mid March) is mostly cool but non-prevailing cold easterly winds can affect the area from the continent, these can bring heavy snowfall if the winds interact with a low pressure system over the Atlantic or France. Northerly winds can also be cold but are not usually as cold as easterly winds. Westerly winds bring milder and, typically, wetter weather. Southerly winds usually bring mild air (if from the Atlantic or North Africa) but chill if coming from further east than Spain.

Spring (mid March - May) is a transitional season that can be chilly to start with but is usually warm by late-April/May. The weather at this time is often changeable (within each day) and occasionally showery.

Summer (June - mid September) is usually warm and continental air from mainland Europe or the Azores High usually leads to at least a few weeks of hot, balmy weather with prolonged warm to hot weather. The number of summer storms from the Atlantic, such as the remnants of a tropical storm usually coincides with the location of the jet stream. The East tends to receive much less of their rain than the other regions.

Autumn (mid September - mid November) is usually mild with some days being very unsettled and rainy and others warm. At least part of September and early October in the East have warm and settled weather but only in rare years is there an Indian summer where fine weather marks the entire traditional harvest season.

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