June starts cool – will it warm up anytime soon?
A cool start to June
June may well be the first week of meteorological summer, but the weather certainly hasn’t got the memo yet. We are 10 days into the month, and it has been cooler than average for the time of year.
Temperatures by day and night have been around 1-3C below average, and in some rural areas have locally fallen close to freezing at night.
There’s even been snow across the Scottish mountain tops. This isn’t that unusual – typically happening every 3-5 years. Nevertheless, it shows just how chilly the air is at present.
It has also made for some stunning images, whereby snow-covered peaks in the Scottish Highlands stand out from the lush green foliage in the valleys below.
Why so cool?
So far this month, the bigger scale weather pattern across the Atlantic Ocean has been stuck, with a big area of high pressure in the middle and areas of low pressure either side of it.
This has resulted in the chilly Arctic air being drawn southwards across the UK and much of western Europe.
At this time of year, the jet stream and weather patterns are much weaker and move more slowly than in autumn and winter. So, when a particular weather pattern develops, it can stick around for quite some time.
Will it warm up soon?
If you’re after anything markedly warmer anytime soon, then you’re going to be disappointed.
Whilst we will lose the feed of Arctic air later this week and replace it with something milder, that change will be accompanied by showers or longer spells of rain and brisk winds.
So, although the air will technically be milder, it’s unlikely to feel much warmer, due to the cloud, rain and wind.
There are some slight hints that temperatures may rise a bit further during the final 10 days of June, but it’s still very uncertain and there are no signs of anything resembling a heatwave.
High UV levels
One thing to bear in mind is that UV levels are going to be high this week – even though it feels cool.
This is because UV levels aren’t dependent on temperature, they are dependent on how high in the sky the sun is located. It’s rapidly approaching its highest point with the summer solstice just a few weeks away.
Before I go, I’ll leave you with one final image, which shows just how much the UK’s weather can vary each year. On this day in 2023, there was remarkable heat for the start of summer, and temperatures widely reached the high 20s and low 30s. For now, we’ll just have to imagine how that feels.
