Expert explains how UK is seeing so many storms after Isha soon became Jocelyn

23 January 2024 , 22:24

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Storm Jocelyn brought heavy rain and wind across Edinburgh and the surrounding area today (Image: Katielee Arrowsmith SWNS)

The UK and Ireland have experienced three named storms this month alone - two of which have happened this week alone.

Experts say the activity is largely due to the recent positions of jetstreams, and how these influence low-pressure systems that move in off the Atlantic. Jetstreams guide the movement and direction of low pressures and, this month, the activity of these has led to low pressures moving swiftly across the UK.

"One of the factors particularly of storms in the UK is the position of the jetstream and how it influences low-pressure systems that move in off the Atlantic … that’s one of the principle factors of how many of these deep areas of low pressure we get in the UK across a storm naming year," Stephen Dixon, spokesperson for the Met Office, had told the Mirror this week.

Further factors impact this too, including the recognition of the likelihood of strong winds and the severity of expected flooding, forecasters say. The UK experienced significant flooding last month, notably across northern England, and so as the ground was saturated into January, Storm Henk, Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn were named in quick succession.

The Met Office website reads: "Storms will usually be named on the basis of the impacts from strong winds, but the impacts of other weather types will also be considered. For example, rain, if its impact could lead to flooding as advised by the Environment Agency, SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) and Natural Resources Wales flood warnings, or snow. Therefore 'storm systems' could be named on the basis of impacts from the wind but also include the impacts of rain and snow."

Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts

River Ouse bursts its bank in York in the wake of Storm Jocelyn (Lee McLean/SWNS)

Storm Isha was more destructive than Storm Jocelyn and is believed to have played a part in the deaths of five people across UK and Ireland, including a man who fell down a manhole in Bradford, West Yorkshire after its cover had blown off.

Winds topped 95mph during Storm Isha with the strongest speed recorded in Brizlee Wood, Northumberland. Gusts were expected due to the position of the jetstream as a band of low pressure made its way eastwards across the UK.

Suzanne Gray, Professor of Meteorology at the University of Reading, told BBC Today: "The number of storms that impact us each year can be influenced by meteorological phenomena occurring elsewhere across the globe such as the current El Niño event in the tropical Pacific region."

The current storm season has brought the most named storms since 2015/16, the season the Met Office started naming storms. That season we got up to the letter K, with Katie the 11th and final storm.

However, even if the number of named storms this winter goes on to surpass 2015/16's total, we still will not be able to say we have had the UK's most active storm season.

That is because the winter of 2013/14 was the wettest on record and was considered to be the stormiest period for two decades. As we were not naming storms at that time, we cannot confidently compare this year to the years before 2015.

Bradley Jolly