The Met Office has said we can expect “tropical” and “humid” spells of weather this week, courtesy of Hurricane Ernesto.
Ernesto has wreaked havoc with severe flooding on several Caribbean islands and dangerous conditions down the East Coast of the US. It was upgraded to a Category One hurricane this weekend.
Thankfully it won’t be making landfall on British shores, but the remnants of Ernesto’s force are set to influence our weather in the days ahead. Meteorologist Aidan McGivern explained exactly what is likely to happen in the Met Office‘s Week Ahead Forecast on X (formerly Twitter).
READ MORE: Hurricane Ernesto set to unleash 83mph winds on UK as ‘danger to life’ warning issued
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He said: “As it pushes into cooler, North Atlantic waters, it will no longer be a hurricane. It will diminish in nature. It will become a more typical Atlantic low and even merge into a cold front, rather than become a defined feature in itself.”
However, he added that there is “one important difference” between this and regular Atlantic weather fronts. He continued: “The tropical origins of this means that we are going to see a lot of tropical, humid air move into the UK and dump a lot of moisture.
“And that means that north-western parts, during Wednesday (August 21) and Thursday (August 22), will be very sodden, and west-facing hills of Western Scotland in particular will see an awful lot of rain.”
(Image: WXCHARTS)
GFS weather model maps for Thursday morning show heavy rainfall down the west coast of Scotland, in north-west England, and parts of North Wales. However, temperatures on Thursday are not expected to drop significantly. The Met Office predicts central Scotland will reach 17C, with temperatures between 20C and 23C across England.
A yellow weather warning for rain has been issued by the Met Office for Western Scotland, starting at 9am on Wednesday and lasting until 3pm on Thursday. The warning indicates that up to 150mm of rain could fall during that period over hills.