UK weather: 'Vigorous vortex' to 'intensify' westerly winds across Britain as 'storm clustering' threatens widespread disruption
WATCH: GB News weather on January 30 as the Met Office warns of stormy conditions
GB News
The Met Office has warned of increased chances of wet, windy and stormy weather across the UK over the coming months.
Forecasters attribute this outlook partly to a developing La Niña in the Pacific Ocean, where cooler than normal temperatures around the equator are influencing weather patterns thousands of miles away.
Despite their broad nature, long-range forecasts suggest these conditions will drive wet and windy westerly winds across the UK and much of western Europe from February to April.
Temperatures are expected to remain relatively mild during this period of unsettled weather.
The Met Office has warned of increased chances of wet, windy and stormy weather across the UK over the coming months
Net Weather/ WXCHARTS
A particularly strong polar vortex in the stratosphere over the Arctic is further intensifying these weather patterns.
This vigorous vortex is creating powerful westerly winds, helping to drive weather systems across the Atlantic towards Britain.
The current conditions mirror those of the winter of 2013-2014, which was recorded as the UK's wettest winter and possibly its stormiest.
Adding to this weather setup, winds in the stratosphere are in a westerly phase of a 14-month cycle - providing even more momentum to Atlantic weather systems.
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The strong polar vortex is also helping to prevent extremely cold air from reaching the UK and Europe.
Met Office meteorologist Jeff Knight warned of potential storm clustering in the coming months.
"An outlook for increased storminess carries a risk of storm clustering, meaning multiple storms could affect the UK in quick succession, like we have already seen for storms Eowyn and Herminia," he said.
Knight added: "Although the outlook cant give any indication of the severity of specific events and therefore if any particular system will be named, the chance of impacts from wet and windy weather, particularly during February and March, are higher than to normal."
A vigorous vortex is creating powerful westerly winds, helping to drive weather systems across the Atlantic towards Britain
NetWeather
Recent storms have already shown the potential severity of such weather patterns.
Red weather warnings were issued across Scotland and Northern Ireland as Storm Éowyn swept through, followed by storms Ivo and Herminia.
The Met Office described Éowyn as "probably the strongest storm" to hit the UK in at least a decade.
The series of storms left nearly a million properties without power across the British Isles.
Wind gusts during these weather events exceeded 100mph.
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