Quieter weather for many into next week

Yesterday saw a winter storm move to the north of the UK, delivering damaging gusts of wind across a large swathe of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England and leaving two people dead.

Transport disruption was severe in Scotland, with all rail services suspended for a time, as well as severe delays and cancellation to flights.

Around 100,000 homes were left without electricity at one point, as strong winds brought down power lines.

Another major aspect of yesterday’s weather was coastal flooding – initially for north western coasts of the UK, followed by North sea coasts of England and Scotland overnight.

The Environment Agency said that it was the worst storm surge to occur in 60 years – since the deadly floods in 1953.

Quieter weather to return

The cause of yesterday’s winter storm was an active jet stream, travelling at around 190mph up at 30,000ft – sucking up air from the surface, causing pressure to fall rapidly.

In the coming days, the jet stream will change position and move north of the UK. This will divert areas of low pressure, wind and rain towards Iceland and northern Scandinavia and allow high pressure to build over western Europe – including the UK.

However, the UK will be on the periphery of the area of high pressure, so at times a little cloud, rain and a brisker breeze may affect Northern Ireland, along with the far west of England, Wales and Scotland.

Milder air

Another notable feature of the weather from this weekend onwards will be the arrival of milder air.

The past few weeks have felt distinctly chilly, but a southerly wind will bathe us in warmer air that has travelled all the way from the sub tropics.

As a result, temperatures for most places through this weekend and into next week will reach 10-13C – even across the far north of Scotland.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website. I also post regular updates on Twitter – @liamdutton