This week starts with stormy weather caused by a few low-pressure areas moving across the North Sea. In the latter part of the week, high pressure is expected to take over, resulting in much calmer and more workable conditions.
A low-pressure area near the southwest coast of Norway is gradually filling, resulting in decreasing winds. In Viking, the significant wave height is around 6 meters today but will gradually decrease throughout today and tomorrow.
A new active low-pressure area is expected to bring unsettled conditions to the southern part of the North Sea. This developing system is anticipated to track through the English Channel early on Wednesday, to cross the Netherlands later that day, and to move further east afterwards. The exact track and development remain uncertain, but the models are in general agreement.
Maximum winds are expected behind the low-pressure area, bringing fresh to strong gales from a northerly direction, with even a risk of storm. Depending on the exact wind strength, waves in the southern North Sea are likely to briefly increase to heights between 3.0 and 5.0 meters late Wednesday.
Figure 1: wind speed and direction on Wednesday 18 UTC, according to the European ECMWF-model.
We expect much calmer weather in the second half of the week. High pressure will gradually shift eastward across the North Sea on Thursday and Friday, resulting in calmer and more workable conditions.
Over the coming weekend, a deep Atlantic low is expected to be positioned west of the British Isles, causing southerly winds. In the northern North Sea, this will lead to near-gale winds from the south and a significant wave height increasing to about 3.0 meters, which is not uncommon in this area.
