Theme: Climate of the United Kingdom

Atlantic Ocean
One of the greatest influences on the climate of the UK is the Atlantic Ocean and especially the Gulf Stream, which carries warm water up from lower latitudes and modifies the high latitude air masses that pass across the UK. This thermohaline circulation has a powerful moderating and warming effect on the country's climate. This warm water current warms the climate to such a great extent that if the current did not exist then temperatures in winter would be about 10 °C (18 °F) lower than they are today and similar to eastern Russia or Canada near the same latitude. The current allows England to have vineyards at the same latitude that Canada has polar bears. These warm ocean currents also bring substantial amounts of humidity which contributes to the notoriously wet climate that western parts of the UK experience.
Winds
The high latitude and proximity to a large ocean to the west means that the United Kingdom experiences strong winds. The prevailing wind is from the south-west, but it may blow from any direction for sustained periods of time. Winds are strongest near westerly facing coasts and exposed headlands.
Gales — which are defined as winds with speeds of 51 to 101 km/h (32 to 63 mph)— are strongly associated with the passage of deep depressions across the country. The Hebrides experience on average 35 days of gale a year (a day where there are gale-force winds) while inland areas in England and Wales receive fewer than 5 days of gale a year. Areas of high elevation tend to have higher wind speeds than low elevations, and Great Dun Fell in Cumbria (at 857 m or 2,812 ft) averaged 114 days of gale a year during the period 1963 to 1976. The highest gust recorded at a low level in England was 191 km/h (119 mph) at Gwennap Head in Cornwall on 15 December 1979, and a 115 mph gust was also recorded at Shoreham-By-Sea on 16 October 1987. A disputed 122 mph gust was recorded on 16 October 1987 at Gorleston in Norfolk during the Great Storm of 1987. In Scotland, Fraserburgh in Aberdeenshire recorded 229 km/h (142 mph) on 13 February 1989, which was equalled during Cyclone Xaver on 5 December 2013. Wales' highest wind speed gust of 200 km/h (124 mph) was set at Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan on 28 October 1989. Especially potent storm systems typically affect the UK during autumn and winter, with the winters of 1989/1990 and 2013/2014 particularly notable for the frequency and potency of storm systems.
An unofficial gust of 194 mph was recorded on the Shetland Isles during the New Year's Day Storm on 1 January 1992, and an equal unofficial 194 mph wind gust is claimed to have been set in the Cairngorm Mountains on 19 December 2008.
Barometric pressure plays a role in storm systems. For the United Kingdom, record figures for barometric pressure recordings are:
Highest - 1053.6mb (Aberdeen, 31 January 1902)
Lowest - 925.6mb (Ochtertyre, 26 January 1884)
Notably a low pressure storm system affected the UK with a central pressure of 914.0mb on 10 January 1993, however this figure is not recorded over the UK but out in the Atlantic, despite the system affecting the UK.