A weather expert has suggested that the UK could see 21C temperatures after Storm Amy subsides. Jim Dale, founder and senior meteorological consultant at British Weather Services, said: “Storm Amy is coming to an end now, obviously. It’s still blowing in the north to a certain degree.” He added that he was out for a walk this morning in High Wycombe, and saw a massive tree that had been completely felled. “So you can see, it wasn’t just the north,” the expert said. “But that one’s coming to an end and it’s quite usual that after a storm of this nature, you get high pressure filling in,” Mr Dale added.
“The winds coming in behind the storm. That’s not an unusual event. So what I’m actually seeing is, at the moment anyway, a couple of weeks of what you might call tranquil, sedated, autumnal type weather, with high pressure dominating. Two weeks. We’ll see whether it lasts that long, but that’s what I’m seeing at this moment time.
“It will be good for the economy, it’ll be good for people’s spirits, et cetera.”
Mr Dale also said that, with the high pressure, fog can be expected. But, if it clears quickly, sunshine will follow. He added that a broadly southerly airflow would bring higher temperatures.
“It won’t be there all the time, as sometimes it’ll be just light air coming from nowhere, he caveated. However, generally, if we get that southerly airflow, Brits could experience temperatures in the afternoons, and primarily in the south, that are “reasonably warm”.
Mr Dale said: “I’m suggesting that 20C might well be on [the cards]. 18C or 19C for sure. 20C, a little bit of a push. 21C would be super, because I think we can then say, ‘yeah, that’s the Indian summer’. 21C in mid October, it’s pretty good going to say the least.”
He added: “I think it’s fair to say that if we get the air coming out of the Mediterranean, through across Spain and France, in the same way as it does in the summer time, then [we could] 21C in this next fortnight. We’ll be hitting 18C or 19C tomorrow.
“It will ebb and flow a little bit, depending on wind direction. In other words, it just cools off a little bit Tuesday, Wednesday time, warms up again as we go towards the weekend, and potentially afterwards.”
The specialist also issued a warning regarding drough conditions.
He said: “Given the sunshine, given the sedate weather, given the lack of rainfall, which there will be, drought will start to come back into it.
“We’re not out of it as far as certain parts of the country’s concerned, particularly the south, don’t see any rainfall for a fortnight.
“So it’s literally the other side of the coin from storm Amy.”