Jet stream keeps us on the wetter side of Europe
After a July that was, according to preliminary figures from European researchers, “marginally” the warmest ever month on record globally, August is looking more likely to go down as among the wettest. After the 38.7C (101.7F) peak at Cambridge’s Botanic Garden late last month, the early stages of August have seen roads and bridges washed away in Yorkshire and Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire evacuated as a nearby dam struggles to hold back the reservoir.
For the rest of us a mixture of sunshine and showers will carry on today. Driving it all is a traffic jam of low-pressure systems out in the Atlantic, and the latest is now making its way torturously over the UK. Northern and western areas will bear the brunt of the rain. So Northern Ireland, western Scotland and parts of northern England are in for the antithesis of our ideal summer’s day.
Further south and east, though, it should be drier and sunnier. London and the south-east corner will touch 28C (82F), Norwich and the East Anglian coast 24C (75F), and down in Cardiff expect 23C (73F).
Enjoy it while you can, because by tomorrow that same creeping low pressure will be everywhere. There may be sunshine amid the showers but once again Scotland and Northern Ireland will be short-changed. And if that doesn’t send your spirits plummeting, it is looking likely that Tuesday could be the wettest day of all.
Our problem, at the moment, is that the jet stream – that ribbon of air currents in the high atmosphere, blowing west to east – should be north of the UK at this time of year, allowing us to draw in the warmth from southern Europe. Instead, it is wending its way over Europe, leaving us on the wrong side of the street, prey to cool, wet, miserable weather from the north. The only comfort is that the jet stream is fickle and likes to jump around. Here’s hoping it will be heading north soon.