Yes, sorry, that was rather flippant wasn't it. Unfortunately my laptop died last night before I could post something useful, such as the weather sites which I generally use
As well as MSN weather, I usually look at
Metcheck
Accuweather
BBC world weather (the least useful of the lot)
As we always go in winter we expect the weather to be bad. It often isn't, but we make sure to wear a decent waterproof coat and hat. I hate umbrellas. For summer trips I suppose a decent (Peter Storm or similar) packaway rollmac in a little bag would be the answer.