Storm Hector will bring gales or severe gales to the north of Britain today, with gusts of 60-70 mph possible.
Despite being the middle of June, an unseasonably strong Atlantic jet stream is taking aim at the British Isles this week, bringing with it Storm Hector today – which will pack a punch of strong winds across northern Britain. We haven’t had a named storm since Georgina back on the 24th January, which goes to show how quiet the Atlantic has been since then.
The strong jet stream will be with us through the weekend and into early next week too, meaning we will see further Atlantic systems roll through, bringing rain or showers at times, accompanied by often windy conditions, though not as windy as today.
Winds have gusted to 100mph over the exposed tops of the Cairngorms overnight, while lower down a top gust of 69mph has been recorded at Ballypatrick on the Antrim coast of N. Ireland, with Belfast recording a gust of 60mph, more recently a gust of 68mph was recorded at Shap in Cumbria. The strong winds earlier across Ireland and N. Ireland are now transfering eastward across Scotland, N. England and north Wales, as a deep low for the time of year tracks northeast over the Faroe Islands this morning. So, we will see some locally damaging gusts of wind across northern Britain this morning, with gusts widely reaching 50-60mph and perhaps locally gusting to 60-70mph, even through the Central Belt of Scotland as winds veer westerly later in the morning – where the strong winds will be funnelled through. So, there is potential for disruption to travel and power supplies, with trees in full leaf, there is potential for branches or whole trees to come down.
Further south, it will be a windy day too, though no quite as bad as for northern England and north Wales northwards, perhaps gusts reaching 50-60 mph around exposed western and southwestern coasts and over western hills. The tail end of the front that brought what’s left of last night’s rain that moved east across Britain has quickly cleared Kent, following on across England and Wales will be generally cloudy skies in the next few hours with a few mainly light showers passing through. However, the morning cloudy skies eventually breaking up to allow some pleasantly warm sunny spells to develop into the afternoon. For Scotland and N. Ireland it will be a cloudier day, with some blustery heavy showers across western and northern areas of both countries, the disruptive gales or severe gales this morning will gradually ease into the afternoon, but remaining rather windy.
Temperatures will reach 15-17C across Scotland and N. Ireland, warmer further south across England and Wales – where we will see more in the way of sunshine – reaching 18-22C.
Winds will continue to ease this evening and overnight across the north, but blustery showers will continue, especially towards western Scotland, northern coasts of N. Ireland and perhaps Cumbria – where they will be locally heavy. Elsewhere across England and Wales it will be largely dry with clear spells and lighter winds.
A quieter day with lighter winds for many on Friday, still showers affecting western Scotland, N. Ireland along with western parts of England and Wales. Otherwise, away from these areas, it will be mostly dry and bright day with spells of sunshine. Temperatures reaching 15-18C in the north, 19-22C in the south.
It’s looking not the best of starts to the weekend, with Saturday looking like an unsettled day, as another area of low pressure, not as deep as today’s, tracks across northern Britain, bringing showers or longer spells of rain, with a risk of a few thunderstorms thrown in too. It will be windiest across the south – with a risk of gales around exposed southern and western coasts.
Sunday looks the better half of the weekend, with most areas having a drier and brighter day with spells of sunshine, though cloud looks to thicken across northern and western areas in the afternoon, perhaps bringing some patchy rain.
As the jet stream looks to shift back north again early next week, perhaps a north-south split developing, with northern areas often cloudy, breezy or windy, with spells of rain or showers at times. Southern areas staying mostly dry and warmer too, with some sunny spells.
