I monitor the weather forecast for the Highland and Eilean Siar region of the UKUK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland., so a map like this that delineates the exact area comes in handy when trying to decipher the forecast from the Met OfficeUKMO The Meteorological Office is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Basically it comprises the whole of the Highland region plus the Western Isles. Even after being up here on and off for over 15 years, I still have a job trying to visualise the precise areas they are trying to describe. One thing I do know though is that just using terms such as ‘in the east’ or ‘in the west’ doesn’t help in an area as large and oddly shaped as this one is. Neither is using towns and cities such as Inverness and Nairn as reference points. Do you have any idea where Lochaber is? Or for that matter where Sutherland and Caithness are, and how far Ross-shire (or should that be Ross and Cromarty) extends? Shires in Scotland are a very complex subject, as this Wikipedia article explains.
