Electricity North West weather watch – September

5 Sep 2017

Electricity North West weather watch – September

Fortunately the weather didn’t cause any issues on the power network, but if you need extra support during a power cut then don’t wait until winter to sign-up to our free Priority Services Register.

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Meteorologist Nick Prebble from MeteoGroup tells us what the weather has in store for us for September.

Look back: August

The key statistics across the North West in August reflect a rather typical month, with both temperature and rainfall very close to the seasonal norm although sunshine amounts were a little above average. In truth, it was a variable month weather-wise as low pressure to the north of the UK alternated with high pressure to the south, meaning that there were periods of several days when it was dry and fine, interspersed with unsettled spells in between.

The warmest day of August occurred on the 27th when Moor Park (Preston) recorded a high of 23.4C, but there were a few cool interludes too. The lowest temperature was 3.2C at Shap during the early hours of the 10th August when clear skies combined with a chilly northerly air flow.

There were a handful of days when the atmosphere became sufficiently unstable to trigger thundery downpours, especially the night of the 16th August into the early hours of the 17th August when there were a number of lightning strikes across Lancashire and Greater Manchester. There were also a few breezy spells, but any particularly deep low pressure areas kept to the north of the UK hence winds for the most part stayed below 50mph.

Look ahead: September

The first ten days or so of September will see the UK stuck in a rut weather-wise, as low pressure areas frequently dip south-eastwards from Iceland towards Europe and bring with them periods of unsettled weather. The North West will see outbreaks of rain interspersed with bright and showery interludes, perhaps accompanied by occasionally strong winds. Cumulative rainfall totals could be quite high in places through this period, especially on west-facing hills.

The forecast for the middle and latter part of September poses several difficulties owing in part to the activity of hurricanes over the North Atlantic basin. Despite weather models having improved in skill markedly over the years, they still struggle with the effects of ex-tropical cyclones, for example the current Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean, heading towards Europe whilst being modified by the jet stream West of the UK. Sometimes they can force a zone of high pressure North East into Europe meaning there is every chance that a dry and settled spell will develop for a time, but it will probably last less than a week preventing any meaningful late-season warmth to develop.

Indeed, ex-tropical cyclones can also add considerable energy to the North Atlantic large-scale weather systems and bring further periods of wet and windy weather to the UK, so the North West could see a variety of weather through the second half of September.

In the event of an unexpected power cut you can contact us 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 Service Register here. To discover more about the extra support on offer watch our Priority Service video here.