Brief respite after Storm Arwen as Barra bears down
THE storm names chosen for the winter months ahead include some less familiar ones this time round thanks to them being the result of welcome co-operation between the British, Irish and Dutch weather services. Barra, Gladys, Méabh, Pól, Tineke and Vergil all potentially lie in the future, but this weekend we have seen the tail end of Arwen, the first of the storm selection. It brought 75mph winds near coasts in north east England and eastern Scotland.
Today will see those damaging gusts calming down, but the eastern seaboard of the UK will still be feeling the effect of Arwen as it moves off into the North Sea. There may even be some snow as the wind chill takes temperatures down further than the mercury reading of 37F (3C) on the Northumberland coast.
Elsewhere a weak weather front will this morning bring cloud and rain into Northern Ireland, but for the rest of us it will be mainly dry but overcast, with only the occasional burst of sunshine. With the wind going, it will feel warmer – 46F (8C) down in Cornwall and Devon, 45F (7C) in South Wales, but still just 41F (5C) in London and the south east.
As we head into December, our weather is blowing in from the Atlantic, but the week will see low-pressure systems making landfall in the northern half of the UK, and high pressure applying a calming, mild balm in southern parts. That means that Plymouth will find itself at 54F (12C), above the seasonal average, but in north western Scotland the wind and the rain will be unmistakeably wintry.
And as the week progresses, the shifting position of the Jet Stream – that ribbon of air currents in the high atmosphere, blowing west to east across the Atlantic with such a strong influence on our weather – could mean that the south westerly flow from the Azores is squeezed out in favour of something colder, wetter and more stormy. Barra’s moment may not be long delayed.