High pressure is once again dominating the weather over the North Sea, as has largely been the case throughout much of this spring. However, a strong northerly wind will affect the northern North Sea for a time, accompanied by a significant increase in wave height, which may temporarily halt operations in the area.
High pressure is currently building over the northern North Sea. This high is expected to remain in place around the Faroe Islands throughout the coming week. Over the southern North Sea, this high will bring very calm and sunny weather.
However, the situation will be temporarily different over the northern North Sea. Due to a prevailing northerly wind, a lee trough will form along the southwest coast of Norway. As a result, the pressure gradient over this part of the North Sea will increase significantly. Consequently, we expect a marked increase in wind (up to 30 knots) and wave heights (up to 4 meters), particularly on Wednesday and Thursday. The further your working site is from the southwest coast of Norway, the less impact you will experience from this increase in wind and wave activity, as can been seen in Figure 1.
The lee trough will weaken quickly over the course of Thursday, leading to calmer conditions returning to the northern North Sea. There is a possibility that a new lee trough could develop along the southwest coast of Norway over the weekend, but weather models are not yet in full agreement on this.
Recap
All in all, it looks to be another week with plenty of workable windows across much of the North Sea. Only the northern part of the North Sea is particularly at risk of operational disruptions on Wednesday and Thursday, due to a strong increase in wind and wave activity caused by a lee trough along the southwest coast of Norway. To stay updated on the latest developments, we recommend consulting the most recent weather reports.
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