Flax and jute mills congregated alongside the stream in the 19th century to use the water for their steam-powered machinery. Much of its course within the town is open but some parts have been built over. The burn and its environs form a green artery between residential areas and along with the railway line divides the town, east to west. Data collected by the Brothock Water monitoring station from 1990 onwards shows the water level to normally range between and . The highest recorded level of was reached on 2nd November 2009. A £12 million publicly funded scheme to reduce flows in Brothock Water to protect parts of the town at risk from flooding was developed by Angus Council and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The works, completed in December 2022, included the creation of flood storage areas at Dammy Meadows and north of the town. The shoreline South west of the harbour lies an area of craggy rocks with a large number of rock pools exposed at low tide. Rocks, boulders and shingle extend for about nine hundred metres to Arbroath West Links (or Elliot) beach. This gently sloping beach is of mixed sand and pebbles and the sea here is a designated bathing water site of about in length. The main access to the beach is via a slipway, but there are also steps down from the coastal path. Depending on the tide, the width of the beach can vary from between twenty to two hundred metres. Arbroath (or Seaton) cliffs rise about north east of the harbour. Whiting Ness at the end of the King's Drive promenade is an example of geological angular unconformity; a coarse conglomerate of late Devonian upper red sandstone overlies early Devonian lower red sandstone. Climate Arbroath has a typical British marine climate influenced by its seaside position. There are narrow temperature differences between seasons. January has an average high of and July of . The climate is somewhat dry and sunny for Scotland, with of precipitation and 1538.4 hours of sunshine. The data are sourced from the 1981–2010 averages of the Met Office weather station in Arbroath. Demography Residents of Arbroath are called Arbroathians but often call themselves Red Lichties after the red lamp that shone from the harbour light and foghorn tower at the harbour entrance, as an aid to shipping entering the harbour. Scotland's census of 2011 reports the total