Electricity North West weather watch – November

Electricity North West weather watch – November

October was a busy month for us due to Storm Aileen, ex-hurricane Ophelia and Storm Brian.

Ophelia impacted the power network with strong winds which caused the loss of power to around 25,000 customers across the North West. 

Engineers worked extremely hard in very difficult conditions to repair the damage and restore power to all customers as safely and quickly as possible. You can catch-up on our restoration efforts here.

Let’s find out what the weather has in store for the region for this month, with MeteoGroup senior meteorologist, Matthew Dobson.

Look back: October

The second month of autumn 2017 bucked a trend of the past decade, with a greater frequency of mild ‘westerly’ flows compared to recent Octobers.

There were several deep low pressure areas that affected the UK, bringing wet and windy conditions to the North West. The first of these arrived early in the month, when gusts exceeded 50mph at a few exposed locations in Cumbria. It was then just over a week later when the wettest spell of the month occurred, with a slow-moving active frontal zone on the night of the 10th into the morning of the 11th delivering persistent heavy rainfall. A few weather stations recorded more than 50mm and river flooding was reported across parts of Lancashire.

The arrival of ex-hurricane Ophelia to our shores on the 16th brought a period of high winds and heavy rain, with 70mph gusts recorded across a few exposed coastal locations through the evening. A south-easterly wind flow ahead of the approaching storm led to an unusually warm spell of weather, with a maximum of 20.8C recorded at a couple of stations prior to the strong winds developing.

Another storm (named ‘Brian’ by the Met Office) arrived on the 21st, and although the associated winds were lower there was further flooding across parts of Lancashire and Greater Manchester. The remainder of the month saw further changeable and at times unsettled conditions before the brief chilly period towards the close of October.

Look ahead: November

This month has started on a changeable and at times chilly note, with winds varying between north-westerly and south-westerly. This alternating pattern will continue through the next week with the prospect for another shot of cold air from the north due to arrive this weekend and into the start of next week, with the north-westerly wind becoming strong for a time through the Irish Sea. A couple of frosty nights are therefore in prospect for rural spots, and there may even be one or two wintry showers passing over the peaks of the Pennines.

There should then be a period of more settled weather around and just after mid-November, with weather models forecasting a weaker westerly flow compared to average as high pressure becomes more expansive over northern Europe. It may still be occasionally wet and breezy, but hazardous conditions are not currently expected. A few cold nights may occur under clear skies, however.

In the event of an unexpected power cut you can contact Electricity North West 24/7 on the new free national number 105 or call 0800 195 4141 or let us know on Twitter @ElectricityNW.

If you need extra support, sign-up to our Priority Services Register. To discover more about the extra support on offer watch our Priority Service video here.