Scotweather Blog

Well what can I say but a very, very stormy day today.  Here are the stats so far:

Min Pressure 994.0 hpa at 14:47
Max Pressure 1012 hpa at 00:00
Min Temp 7.3C at 00:16
Max Temp 12.3C at 12:46
Rain Rate 10.0 mm/hr at 07:38
High Wind 59.0 mph at 19:16
High Gust 97.3 mph at 14:59

All in all an exceptional day for the 23rd of May!

Thankfully, Scotweather sustained very little damage even in such strong winds.Sadly it's been reported that a person has lost their life in Inverness and another near Loch Lomond.  Our sympathies go to their respective families at this sad time.

What has caused this unseasonal weather I hear you ask... well, the weather setup at the moment is that Atlantic lows are heading in one after the other being driven on by the Jet Stream which is a very strong upper level wind.  The jet stream drives our weather all year round and depending upon where the jet stream is in relation to the UK, determines whether we get the Atlantic lows or not and whether there is any blocking highs out to the East of the UK.

At the moment the Jet Stream is further south than it should be at this time of year and therefore is driving the lows in over Northern parts of the UK therefore, Scotland is seeing the lions share of the wet and windy weather whilst the SE of the UK seeing very little of the wet stuff.

Here at Scotweather we have seen a number of wind gusts above 90 mph which to be honest is exceptional even in Autumn these days.  The events of today have also closed the Forth Road and Rail Bridges over the River Forth, closed numerous roads due to fallen trees which in turn has had a knock on effect with people travelling around the region.  There were also reports that overhead cables came down at Partick in Glasgow by First Scotrail and that trains ceased running over the Rail Bridge.  Continuing on from this it's also been reported that train services across the region are very badly effected with some services suspended and up to 50,000 electricity customers were without power due to trees bringing down powerlines, with Inverness being completely without power at one point.

Not only does Scotland have to contend with the effects of this unseasonal weather we now hear that most if not all flights in Scotland will soon be grounded due to volcanic ash in the atmosphere which is blowing in from the Icelandic eruption of Grimsvotn.

Satelite image from late today and other charts, of the massive low that caused all Scotland's problems today.

Images remain the copyright of the respective owners.  Scotweather copyrights the images on their behalf.

The last satelite image from Dundee University also shows the ash plume coming from the current volcanic eruption in Iceland

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