What weather where when the jet stream heads north?
Last Friday I wrote about the news that many of us are glad to hear – finally, the jet stream is heading northwards. After months of sitting south of the UK bringing some of the wettest months on record, it’s going to head to where it should be at this time of year.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, it’ll be a gradual process and there will be winners and losers in terms of who gets to see sunnier and warmer weather.
That’s really what I want to explore in this blog – what weather is likely to be experienced where as the jet stream heads northwards into next week.
The important thing to remember about the jet stream – a fast moving ribbon of air six miles up in the atmosphere – is that it determines the weather we experience near the earth’s surface.
Places that lie north of the jet stream tend to experience low pressure with cool, wet and windy weather – the cause for our deluges since April. Whereas places that lie south of the jet stream tend to experience high pressure with warm, relatively dry and calm weather.
As the jet stream transitions northwards during the coming days, the weather will remain unsettled with further rain and brisk winds. However, at the weekend, it will finally move just to the north west of the UK to allow high pressure build.
Unfortunately the jet stream doesn’t stay still. It tends to wriggle around which means that at times it will dip down across northern parts of the UK into next week.
As a result, Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England will still be prone to having some wet and windy weather, albeit generally not as bad as it has been during the past few months. It’ll also be quite cool with temperatures around 13-18C.
Further southwards across the rest of the UK an area of high pressure will ridge northwards. This will change the pattern of weather that will be experienced into next week. It will tend to be drier with a better chance of some sunshine and higher temperatures – probably in the range of 18-24C.
It is worth noting though that given the proximity of the jet stream across the north of the UK there are still likely to be a few blips. The odd weather front will manage to reach southern areas and bring a bit of rain but it’s unlikely to be on the scale of what we have experienced in recent months.
Beyond next week, the first part of August is still looking uncertain. Some models are hinting at the jet stream trying to head southwards again. However at this stage it’s not clear enough to be confident as to what it will do.
I will of course keep you updated with the latest weather trends as they become clearer here on my blog. You can also follow me on Twitter – @liamdutton