So far winter has been mild. Whilst we have a few weather warnings, fortunately they haven’t affected our region too severely, but our teams work throughout the year to make sure that our network is prepared, just in case. Take a look at our press release and video to find out more about what we do.
As we move into we encourage all our customers to be winter ready by keeping an eye on the weather and looking out for neighbours and loved ones. Remember, if you find yourself without power you can call your network operator by calling 105.
A look back at November’s weather
November’s weather was dominated by low pressure systems which tracked further south than usual across north-western Europe. Several of these lows became slow moving over the United Kingdom. This resulted in some areas of the country having a much wetter month than normal, and contributed to what was the wettest autumn on record in some places.
The picture across North West England was interesting, because although some parts of the United Kingdom were very wet, the normally very wet western parts of the North West England region avoided the worst of the rain! Early figures suggest that some of the typically wettest parts of the region were actually drier than normal this year.
Take Cumbria as an example. According to long-term averages, Keswick is expected to see around 180mm of rain in November. This year, it had only recorded around 120mm of rain by the 29th November. Similarly, Shap summit would expect around 200mm of rain but had received around 135mm by November 29th. The pattern wasn’t repeated everywhere though. Blackpool, for example, looks like it has had a fairly average month.
Of course, some other parts of northern England had already their average November rainfall by mid-month and have seen further rain since. The Pennies and Yorkshire were especially badly hit. There has been flooding in parts of the Peak District and around Stockport, Greater Manchester, with homes, businesses and transport networks all affected.
Otherwise, November was a relatively cool month with some frosty nights, and was a relatively dull month too, with less sunshine than average.
A look ahead to December
December is one of the months of the year when there is a bit more of an interest in the weather than normal. This is usually people wondering whether they can expect a white Christmas, but this year we also have a General Election to consider. The outcome of one of those events may be a little uncertain at this stage, but we should be able to shed some light on the other!
The very start of December will be cool and settled as high pressure sits over the UK. We expect some chilly days and some frosty nights. As we head through the first week of the month the pattern should change, with high pressure declining southwards and with the Atlantic having more of an influence. It will turn wetter and windier, but it will also become ‘milder’.
That sets the scene for much of the rest of December. It looks as though low pressure systems will track close to or over the north of the UK throughout the month as is typical for the time of year – it is more unusual for the low pressure track to be as far south as it was in November.
The low pressure systems will send showers and rain into North West England, with rainfall likely to be near or above average for the month. As the ground is already very wet, flooding is a possibility. There is also a greater risk of strong winds in December than there was in November, with the risk of some disruptive winds at times.
Winds will predominantly be from the west, but with some variation. Some colder spells are likely when winds turn north-westerly, but it should be a little milder when they turn south-westerly. The colder spells could see wintry showers moving into North West England, these mainly affecting the high ground of the Lake District and Pennines.
All of this means that both the General Election and Christmas are likely to see fairly typical December weather i.e. a chance of rain, possibly windy but with temperatures fluctuating around the average, rather than it being very cold or very mild for a considerable time.
