Shetland Weather

Watery maze of islands 200 miles north of Aberdeen, 600 north of London, stretching 70 miles from head to toe (not including Fair Isle) and 35 east to west. Even on largest Mainland, coastline is so intricately patterned with inlets and peninsulas that you are never more than 3 miles from sea. You could come to Shetland just to watch the waves. It is cold but birds, wild flowers – a reminder of how meadows used to look archaeology, fishing and magnificent and desolate scenery are well worth it. When whipping wind dies down, glassy blue sea seems all the more miraculous. Hotels and farmhouses are usually well heated, electric blankets commonplace. There also tends to be a lot of light misty rain in summer, but days then are exceptionally long with only two hours semi-darkness mid-June. It’s a geologist’s paradise. 2000 million-year-old gneiss rocks at extreme northern tip of Mainland are some of oldest in world.