For at least another week or so, the jet stream is forecast to remain broadly in-situ over the UK and aligned from the South West to North East. This means that we’re likely to see a continued feed of westerly winds, bringing in a mixture of wind, rain, and near-normal temperatures for at least another week. Of course beyond next week, anything could happen, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will.
Image below: forecast position of the jet stream next Friday (13th December), however largely representative of much of the week ahead. As you can see, it’s drawn out from across the Atlantic and into the UK. = MILD.
No Snow, but Stormy. And starting tonight.
This means that whilst snow might not be an issue (apart from maybe some Northern Hills), wind and rain will be.⚠️ In fact, some very stormy conditions are forecast tonight across south western parts of England ⚠️.
This wind forecast map (below), also from Meteociel, shows that wind gusts of 80mph are possible during the early hours of Monday morning across Devon and Cornwall, indicated by the purple and pink colors. That’s strong enough to disrupt travel, and possibly produce some power outages and structural damage in places. Be aware of this during your Monday morning travel.
Next Week
Once the windy weather clears, things will turn (briefly) calmer on Monday afternoon and most areas should see some brightness. However, the remainder of the week is looking largely unsettled, wet, not particularly cold or mild, either! Just the usual Atlantic onslaught. A continued risk of gales, however the one saving grace is that the associated rain fronts will tend to move through quite quickly due to stronger winds, thus rainfall accumulations might not be so high. This is a good thing for those that have been affected by flooding recently.
Cold for Christmas?
I understand that many of you will be beginning to think about the Christmas period, and whether or not it will be cold. Most of us would like a white one! Whilst it’s too far out to give any reasonably accurate indication as to what the weather might do over Christmas, it’s possible that by this stage the jet stream could become a little weaker, bringing us (possibly) some more festive, colder conditions. This doesn’t guarantee snow, however, as often in the UK it can be “chilly”, at say 3-4C, which is still a little too high to see snowfall.