The Met Office has shared its verdict on whether a ‘super El Niño’ could hit while weather forecasts look to bring more sun and dry spells to the UK
Brits are set to see the mercury rise as Summer slowly approaches but the Met Office shared it’s verdict on whether we are heading for a ‘super El Niño’.
Last week some parts of the country saw some of the warmest temperatures of the year so far, with 26.6C recorded in Kew Gardens, London. Temperatures dropped over the weekend with sunny weather being replaced with spells of cloud and rain. Despite this, the Met Office forecast shows temperatures could climb up to 18C in the coming days.
Temperatures could climb to 16C in London on Thursday and even reach 18C in London, Birmingham and Norwich on Friday.
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This comes as the Met Office shared its verdict on the possible return of a strong El Niño – which is a natural climate pattern characterized by the warming of sea surface temperatures usually in the central-east equatorial Pacific. Occurring every 3–7 years, it weakens trade winds, sending warm water eastward, which disrupts global weather patterns, often driving up global temperatures, increasing drought in some regions, and causing heavy rain in others
It forms part of a natural cycle known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, which alternates between warm (El Niño) and cool (La Niña) phases.
The Met Office says they can vary in strength and duration, and the gap between episodes is irregular, adding: “Each El Niño is unique, but stronger events tend to have more widespread and pronounced global effects.” The agency revealed that current projections have suggested the coming El Niño could be stronger, with talks of a “super” El Niño on it’s way.
The Met Office said: “While that term is not officially recognised by the Met Office, there is growing confidence that this event could sit at the upper end of the historical range.”
Grahame Madge, Senior press officer and climate science communicator at the Met Office said: “A ‘super’ El Niño is not a term we subscribe to, but it does underpin the fact that this is likely to be a significant event. Scientists are telling us that this could be the strongest El Niño event so far this century, comparable to the notable El Niño event in 1998.”
While it is not clear where and when this could impact the weather, the Met Office said Brits could be in store for dry and sunny weather in the coming days.
The long range forecast, for April 20 – 29, said: “High pressure to the north or northeast of the UK will bring plenty of dry weather and sunny spells for most at first. Low pressure in the Atlantic will try to push weather fronts towards the UK from the south west, but these may remain slow moving.
“Some parts of the east coast could be on the chilly side with low cloud and onshore breeze, but further west it will likely feel quite warm, especially in sunnier areas.
“From next weekend and into the start of the following week, there are signs that more unsettled weather could return for a time, bringing rain or showers to some areas.”
