British Isles British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consists of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man and over six thousand smaller isles. They have a total area of about 315,159 km and a combined population of just under 70 million, and include two sovereign states, the Republic of Ireland (which covers roughly five-sixths of the island of Ireland) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The islands of Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey and Sark, and their neighbouring smaller islands, are sometimes
Climate of the British Isles drought of 1975–1976 and the very cold winters of 1946–1947, 1962–1963, 1978–79, 1981–1982 and 2009–2010, are often caused by blocking anti-cyclones which can persist several days or even weeks. In winter they can bring long periods of cold dry weather and in summer long periods of hot dry weather. Tropical cyclones themselves do not affect the British Isles due to the cold temperature of the surrounding ocean. Any tropical cyclone that comes near the Isles has said to have undergone a process called extratropical transition. The Isles do experience these extratropical cyclones, the Great Storm of 1987 was a deep