Welcome to the Weekly Weather Update – your guide to the world’s oceans and seas. Each week, we highlight key marine weather patterns and analyse unusual or significant weather events. From calm spells under high pressure to tropical cyclones forming in equatorial waters, and from jet streams steering oceanic storms to anomalies in sea-surface temperature that shape global climate patterns. Here’s what this week’s weather has in store.
A deep Atlantic low is present west of Ireland and is expected to move eastwards over the UK and the southern North Sea to the Netherlands by Thursday. The associated frontal troughs affect the North Sea, bringing unsettled, autumn like conditions to the region.
Especially in the central and northern part of the North Sea the low will result in strong to near gale winds (25-30 knots) from mostly easterly directions. Over the southern North Sea, the pressure gradient remains quite low near the low; mostly fresh winds (15-21 knots) are expected, from variable directions. The airmass is humid, resulting in fog risks over the far south of the North Sea.
Due to the strong easterly winds, waves are expected to reach Hs of 3 meters in the central parts of the North Sea. The highest waves are forecasted close to the UK east coast.
The passing low-pressure system in the coming days will cause a strong easterly wind over the central parts of the North Sea. This same low will bring truly severe weather to the Bay of Biscay. Especially later Wednesday and early Thursday, winds will occasionally reach 50 knots with gusts up to 70 knots, and locally even higher.
As a result, Hs (significant wave height) will rise to 10-12 meters further out at sea. Along the southwest coast of France, waves of 6-9 meters are also expected. From Friday onwards, the weather will become less tumultuous, although it will take a long time for the wave heights to subside following the extreme peak on Wednesday and Thursday.
All in all, it will be somewhat calmer over large parts of the North Sea this week. Only over the Hs rising to 3 meters. In the southern North Sea, fog may occur at times.
The most extreme weather this week is located over the Bay of Biscay. An Hs of over 10 meters will occur there on a widespread scale. Wind gusts, especially on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, will often be around 70 knots, with locally higher speeds.
Those working offshore are advised to closely monitor the latest forecasts and take safety precautions.
We plan to post this Weekly Weather Update 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.