Humid and moist air ahead
| 14:08 UK time, Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Yesterday Anglesey enjoyed nearly 11 hours of sunshine but it's all change again today with low pressure bringing yet more cloud, rain and drizzle in from the Atlantic.
The weather has been very topsy turvy so far this year...
After the warmest March in Wales for over 50 years, this was followed by one of the wettest Aprils on record.
Meanwhile April 2011 was the hottest since records began in 1910.
At Trawsgoed in Ceredigion over 177mm of rain (7 inches) has fallen making it the wettest June there since records began 58 years ago.
Philip Eden, who writes for the Sunday Telegraph, reckons that the first half of June across the UK was the wettest for 150 years.
While here in Wales, it's likely to be the wettest June since records began in 1910 beating the previous record of 183.1mm of rain in June 1998!
The jet stream (strong winds high in the atmosphere) is to blame for the inclement weather. It is further south than usual for this time of year and the weather pattern is stuck in a rut. Basically, Wales is in the wrong part of the roller coaster!
The jet stream (in blue) should normally be located much further north, between Iceland and Scotland.
You could call it bad luck but it does appear to be happening more and more often. The question is why?
The jet stream does vary naturally but is something else to blame?
This seems to be happening more often and it's well worth reading Paul Hudson's latest blog, my colleague at Â鶹Éç Look North in Leeds, to find out possible reasons why. One reason could be warming in the Arctic.
The next couple of days will be humid and the air moist which means plenty of low cloud, mist, hill and coastal fog.
Further rain is likely at times too which may be heavy and thundery on Thursday.
Some dry weather is expected too and where the sun comes out it will feel very warm and muggy with temperatures rising into the low 20's Celsius.
Friday will turn cooler with fresher Atlantic air. It will also be windy with showers or longer spells of rain.
The weekend looks mixed and breezy with sunny spells and showers. Top temperatures only 15 to 18C, 59 to 64F.
I am sure many people will be glad to see the back of June and praying for more sunshine in July.
However, it looks like the changeable weather will continue into the first half of next month with just a few fine and warm days in between the rain.
Derek
Comment number 1.
At 26th Jun 2012, Chris wrote:Paul Hudson's blog is always interesting and it looks like yours will be too (my first time here). One problem Paul has, IMHO, are the comments his blog attracts from the hoards of Man-made Global Warming Deniers. They range from the nit-picking to completely bonkers and they swamp out a lot of sensible comments and discussions. Global warming is simple physics, but the exact effect of this extra energy in the oceans and atmosphere is very hard to predict, but even harder if people deny it is even happening. The deniers are just another form of Internet trolls, which we could all do without. I would like to see this kind of trolling moderated on Â鶹Éç blogs.
It would be good to see more data, more theories and better feedback around existing theories. I expect the weather in Wales is your main concern, but some stuff about climate change would always be welcome. Watch out for the trolls though :-)
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