How Weather Sets The Stage For ‘Wuthering Heights’

If the new adaption of "Wuthering Heights" is on your must-see list, you are probably waiting in anticipation to see Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi take center stage to bring the classic tale to life on the big screen.

However, what you might not expect is that the leading role actually goes to someone else, or rather something else: the weather.

The name "Wuthering Heights" itself comes from the tumultuous, windy weather of the Yorkshire moors of northern England that sets the scene for the equally tumultuous plot line.

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So, let's take a peek into the weather behind the highly anticipated new movie.

Dark, Menacing Clouds

Many of the movie's most intense and dramatic scenes take place on the moors, complemented with the dark, imposing skies.

And while the stormy surroundings conveniently add to the suspense of the story, this is not uncommon for the Yorkshire moors.

During the winter months, the skies are known for being dreary and overcast nearly two-thirds of the time.

A combination of high latitude and moisture due to proximity to the sea result in these gloomy clouds that make for the perfect match with the moodiness of the movie.

Hazy Fog & Eerie Silence

Fog is another weather phenomenon that is ever-present in the film.

Not only do the water vapor particles that make up fog scatter the light in a way that makes for an ethereal haze, but they make for an eerie silence that hangs across the moors.

Sound waves get scattered and absorbed as they move through fog, making it more difficult for sound to travel. People's voices, birds and other noises would all appear dampened.

This helps evoke the feeling of isolation and drama between Catherine and Heathcliff as they navigate their relationship.

Chilling Rain and Windy Conditions

What's a movie centered around a romantic relationship without a scene where they get caught in the rain?

However, when you add in the windy conditions typical of the area — the reality can be rather bone-chilling.

Wind makes you feel significantly colder when you're wet due to a process known as evaporative cooling.

The wind accelerates the process of evaporation of the liquid on your skin to vapor, and this process requires an increasing amount of heat energy, making you feel colder.

So, while it may look romantic, the chilling experience furthers the haunting undertones of the film.

Peat

And, if all of that weren't enough to convince you that the weather is unsung hero of the movie, the very ground they walk on is even dark and mysterious-looking.

The moors are infamous for what is known as peat.

Peat is a dark, spongy material that forms over thousands of years from partially decayed plant material.

Besides the nearly black color making the setting look almost other-worldly, it also absorbs the majority of light rather than reflecting it back.

This is known as albedo, or how much light is reflected from a surface. With black having an albedo of zero, that means the peat doesn't do anything to brighten the expanse of the moors — leaving the environment muted.

Add the peat in with the overcast skies, the eerie, fog-induced silence and bone-chilling rain, and you can clearly see the real star of the show: Mother Nature.

Even though it will be left out when the credits roll, the weather truly laid the groundwork for this dramatic, moody and tumultuous tale.

Caitlin Kaiser graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with both an undergraduate and graduate degree in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences before starting her career as a digital meteorologist with weather.com.