Week Ahead – Two storms to hit 14/02/22
A turbulent week of weather is expected as two storms hit the UK, fired up by an energetic jet stream. Met Office meteorologist Aidan McGivern has the forecast for the upcoming week.
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00:00Hello, and welcome to the Met Office forecast for the week ahead. A week of severe weather,
00:05a week with two named storms and various weather warnings. The jet stream, very powerful, emanating
00:12out of North America during the next few days and that is going to pick up and deepen rapidly
00:18a couple of low pressures. The initial one, Storm Dudley, moving across the Atlantic quickly
00:23during Tuesday, reaching northern parts of the UK during Wednesday with its strongest
00:27winds affecting northern areas during Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday. Meanwhile,
00:33something else starts developing in the Atlantic. At first, just a shallow area of low pressure,
00:39but as the jet stream engages with it, it deepens it very, very rapidly on its approach
00:45and as it travels over southern parts of the UK. So, Storm Eunice on Friday, well it will
00:51bring its strongest winds to the south and there is the risk of disruptive snow meanwhile
00:57on the north as colder air digs in. But before those two storms, a wet and breezy start to
01:04Tuesday in the north and the west, the band of rain moves into central and southern areas
01:08where it does stick around for much of the afternoon actually, eventually petering away
01:13to the southeast. Brighter skies follow, a few showers for northern England, Scotland,
01:18Northern Ireland, one or two flakes of snow over the higher ground as well and staying
01:22breezy with risk of gales in the far north for a time. It's going to be feeling cold
01:26in the north but temperatures a little above average in the south, 9 to 11 Celsius. And
01:32then out towards the west, Northern Ireland already clouding over as the next batch of
01:37rain moves in. Now, this is a couple of weather fronts associated with an area of low pressure
01:43which is moving in, well not far, in front of Storm Dudley which will bring its worst
01:49weather later Wednesday. But Tuesday night also sees a spell of rain and strong winds
01:55across the country with this initial low pressure. As that clears away, perhaps some brightness
02:00first thing Wednesday in places but quite quickly it turns wet and windy, some heavy
02:05and persistent rain around western hills and coasts as the next low moves in. And this
02:10is Storm Dudley. You can see it's just out to the northwest at the moment. Its rain moves
02:14through initially with some strengthening southwesterly winds. Of course, they'll bring
02:19mild air with them, so 14 or 15 Celsius in the south and around average in the far north
02:24with that rain falling as snow over the hills of Scotland. But as Storm Dudley approaches
02:31increasingly after the rain clears through, we'll see the winds pick up. So by Wednesday
02:37evening, widespread gales for the northern half of the UK and the strongest of the winds
02:43are expected to arrive as these tightening isobars approach this part of the world during
02:49Thursday early hours. That's why there are weather warnings in force. Yellow warning
02:55for much of the northern half of the UK where there is the risk of 60 to 70 mile per hour
02:59wind gusts in places. But also an amber warning central and southern Scotland, parts of Northern
03:03Ireland and Northern England. A risk even in land of 80 mile per hour wind gusts and
03:09in some exposed coasts and hills, 90 mile per hour wind gusts. Risk of disruption to
03:14travel and power supplies from those winds and the risk of damage to structures as well
03:19as very dangerous coastal conditions with the very large waves around the Western Isles
03:24and parts of Northern Ireland to watch out for overnight Wednesday into Thursday. Stays
03:29very windy across the country during Thursday morning. Bands of rain move through, turn
03:34to showers and then cold air digs in and so that during Thursday morning it's going to
03:38be turning colder and the showers will be falling as snow over the higher parts of Scotland.
03:44In the far south, damp and breezy but in between some brightness and the winds do calm
03:49down a touch by Thursday afternoon. A break in between weather systems but only ahead
03:55of the next low which at this stage deepens rapidly during Thursday. Storm Eunice approaches
04:02the UK on that powerful jet stream. Now some uncertainty at this stage, it's four days
04:07ahead on the track and depth of Eunice but it looks likely to bring widespread gales
04:12to the southern half of the UK. A yellow warning in force for much of the country and
04:17the risk of 60 to 70 mile per hour wind gusts in places. But if Eunice develops in such
04:24a way that it will be particularly deep crossing the country there is the risk of 80 mile per
04:28hour wind gusts even inland. As well as that for the northern part of this warning area
04:33there is the risk of disruptive snow and combined with the winds blizzard conditions for some
04:38North Wales, Northern England and southern Scotland perhaps. So a very lively start to
04:44Friday with those strong wind gusts as well as any disruptive snowfall affecting central
04:51and northern parts of the UK. The worst of the rain and snow moves through during the
04:56morning and early part of the afternoon. It stays very windy, further gales in places
05:00but the strongest of the winds ease away during the afternoon as well. Brighter skies follow,
05:05wintry showers for Scotland, Northern England, Northern Ireland perhaps as well. Eunice
05:10moves away for the first part of the weekend and then a brief breather I think heading
05:16into the weekend. Another area of low pressure, another weather front potentially bringing
05:21wet and windy weather to the south during Saturday itself. But then further lows are
05:26likely to affect us during the weekend and early next week. Although these don't look
05:32to be as severe as the two named storms that we've got on the cards this week. So plenty
05:38to watch out for this week. Two named storms, Dudley and Eunice, dangerous winds in some
05:44places and for some the risk of disruptive snow. We'll keep you updated on all of that
05:50and you can follow those updates on the Met Office social media channels as well as the
05:53web and the app. Bye bye.