Wow, what a scorcher! Are you feeling hot? If so, you’re not alone as Cumbria is on course to see its warmest November since records began.
Weather experts said the county was already experiencing exceptionally mild days and is looking to be a record breaking month.
According to the Met Office, we have seen temperatures averaging 9.5 degrees – completely atypical for this time of year.
In 2011 the temperature record was set when Cumbria experienced 8.2 degrees, so we are already 3.6 degrees ahead.
The county has been subject to the same weather pattern as the rest of the UK, where highs of 21.2 degrees were recorded in the north of Wales on Sunday.
A spokesman for the Met Office said: “A meandering jet stream, coupled with high pressure over continental Europe and low pressure to the west, has resulted in a south westerly airflow, drawing warm air, from as far south as Iberia, over the UK. In recent days, this has seen temperatures rise well above their average for the time of year.”
A jet stream is a fast-moving wind high in the atmosphere where commercial planes typically fly. It will generally move from west to east over the Atlantic to Europe.
The stream can change course, speed up and slow down and this movement creates the weather. It is also the dividing line between cold polar air and warmer tropical air and as it changes shape and position, the UK can either be on the colder side or warmer side of the jet.
The Met Office added that the unusual warmer weather could not be fully attributed to climate change and that more analysis was needed to establish the connection.
The spokesman said: “While the weather has been exceptionally mild so far this November with high pressure allowing warm air from the south to be pulled up across the UK, we cannot attribute this to climate change. It is important to be clear that ‘extreme’ weather happens as part of the natural variability of the climate.
“There always have been, and will continue to be, weather extremes. It is just the frequency of these events that is changing due to climate change. Therefore we cannot attribute every extreme event to climate change, and a proper attribution analysis is needed to determine whether climate change has had an impact on the occurrence or intensity of specific events.”
While temperatures remain high, the organisation added that with cooler weather on the way, it is not yet possible to say that the record will be broken until the month ends.
