North Sea weather: Calm conditions now, but winds and waves to intensify over the weekend

At the start of week 14, high pressure over the North Sea will shift northeast, lingering over Denmark and southern Scandinavia on Tuesday and Wednesday. Meanwhile, another high is expected to approach the northern North Sea from the northwest on Thursday, merging with the initial system. This combined high will then remain north of Scotland, gradually shifting south toward the United Kingdom on Sunday. Calm conditions will persist across the entire North Sea through Thursday, with winds generally below 20 knots and waves remaining under 2 meters.

As a broad high-pressure area forms north of Scotland, the wind over the northern North Sea will shift from a south/southwesterly direction to northwesterly. This change will strengthen winds along the southwestern Norwegian coast, leading to an increase in significant wave height (Figure 1) late Friday into early Saturday.

As the system moves south, conditions in the northern North Sea will improve throughout Saturday. The central North Sea will remain generally calm, but some residual swell from the north may cause localized wave heights to reach up to 3.5 meters on Saturday morning and early afternoon.

As the high-pressure system moves toward the United Kingdom, weather conditions across the entire North Sea will improve from Saturday afternoon onward.

Conclusion

Overall, conditions will remain favorable for offshore operations until Friday. However, from Friday afternoon to Saturday, unsettled weather is expected over the northwestern and central parts of the North Sea. Conditions will improve later on Saturday and remain stable through the end of the week.

We plan to post this weather briefing on our Infoplaza for Marine Weather Operations LinkedIn page as well. This is also the place where we will share other insightful marine weather articles, so be sure to follow us to never miss an update.