7 Dec 2011

Watch out – a storm is brewing….

This post is just a heads up really because there’s likely to be some very windy weather on Thursday. A deep area of low pressure is set to sweep across the UK, bringing some places potentially damaging gusts of wind.

I mentioned yesterday that temperatures are going to fluctuate quite a bit during the next few days. This is because at the moment there’s a bit of a battle going on between mild air to the south and cold air to the north.

In the world of meteorology, weather extremes in temperate climates like ours tend to occur when there are contrasts in temperature.

On Thursday it’s the contrast in temperature between the mild air and cold air that is key. It’s giving the jet stream a bit of a turbo boost, which in turn develops deeper, stormier areas of low pressure.

Having taken a look at the latest charts, it looks like Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northeast England will see the strongest gusts, which could reach 60-80mph. This kind of wind strength can cause damage to buildings, bring down trees and cause significant travel disruption.

Other parts of the UK will see strong winds as well, with gusts around 40-50mph.

Accompanying the wind will be a spell of heavy rain, only to be followed by the return of much colder air and showers of a wintry flavour across northern areas by the end of the day.

As is always the case in these situations, the detail of where the strongest winds will be may change as we get closer to the time, so do stay in touch with the latest forecast and warnings – www.channel4.com/weather

Also at times of severe weather, Twitter is a good place to share weather reports and other information such as travel delays. You can follow me on @liamdutton and don’t forget to use the hashtag #c4news so the news team can follow your updates!

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