Over the last week we have been watching weather models closely and as mentioned last week there was a high potential for a strong windstorm on the run up to the Christmas period and potentially over the Christmas period also with low pressure systems moving in from the Atlantic on a very fast moving jetstream

Over the next week a very strong and powerful ridge of high pressure will sit to the west and soutwest of Ireland over the Atlantic and to the north of and northwest of that low pressure. A low pressure system is set to move down from Greenland and as it passes Iceland on its way to Scotland this area of low pressure looks set to develop become rather deep. One of the noticeable things about this system is the size of the wind feild. There is a potential it could bring severe and damaging wind across Ireland late Wednesday and through Thursday particularly across the northern half of Ireland. This system will need to be watch very closely because the more southwards it tracks between now and mid week could change the impact the storm could have.

The below shows the fasting moving system across Ireland midweek.

I would not be surprised if this storm is named by the UK Met Office in the next 24 hours especially due to the impact it could have across Scotland. The next name storm when named will be called Storm Gerrit. When we look at the below chart we see the very tight gradients between the high pressure to the south and low pressure passing to the north which is whey we have such a large wind feild.

The latest projection from models show a potential for winds gusting between 100km/hr to 120km/hr and possibly in excess of 130km/hr around northwestern and northern coastal counties. From late Wednesday to Friday afternoon is looking rather windy.

As the low pressure clears over clears over northern parts of Europe and Scandinavia this then looks set to pull down colder air from the north and northwest but at this moment for next weekend it is still unclear how long for. There is a possibility we will be under mild conditions for a day or 2 and then back to colder conditions then back to mild with this pattern repeating itself which can be dangerous at time as your can get deep low pressure systems moving in from the Atlantic and some times you can get a situation where we have a band of rain bumping into colder air turning to snowfall that is one outcome that could occur between next weekend and the new year also.

I will have further updates over the next week on that high possibility of a storm from midweek and to end the week.