North Sea weather: conditions get worse at the end of the week

A low-pressure system over the North Sea will move towards Scandinavia, making way for a broad area of high pressure by Wednesday afternoon. As this high-pressure system shifts eastward, a frontal trough will track over the North Sea on Saturday.

What marine weather to expect this week?

As a low tracks in the north-easterly direction over the southern and central North Sea, uncertain conditions are expected until Wednesday morning. In general, the low is not expected to bring severe conditions. However localized winds may increase up to 25 knots on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Dutch coast, in particular, may experience southwesterly winds reaching 20-25 knots on Tuesday, with a subsequent decrease. Additionally, significant wave heights are expected to locally rise to 1.5-2 meters throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. Meanwhile, the northern North Sea is predicted to remain calm during this period.

By Wednesday afternoon, an area of high pressure will replace the current low-pressure system, bringing settled weather across the entire North Sea through Friday. This high-pressure system will gradually shift eastward, slowly dissipating over Eastern Europe by Sunday.

Funneling winds near Norway

Another low pressure system lingers North-West of Ireland over the weekend. An associated frontal trough is expected to track over the North Sea on Saturday. While conditions remain calm over the southern and central North Sea, the funneling winds along the south-western coast of Norway may increase up to 20-25 kts on Saturday (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Wind speed in knots according to the American GFS model on Saturday July 20^th at 12 UTC. Source: IMWeather

Secondary low near Scotland on Sunday

Figure 2. Significant wave height in meters according to the American GFS model on Saturday July 20^th at 12 UTC. Source: IMWeather

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