Northern Ireland and Scotland record provisional new highest minimum temperature record for November

Northern Ireland and Scotland have recorded their provisional new highest minimum temperature record for November.

The Met Office has confirmed the lowest temperature in Northern Ireland overnight was 14.5 degrees Celsius at Magilligan near Londonderry.

In Scotland a new lowest temperature record of 14.6 degrees Celsius was recorded, in both Prestwick and Kinloss.

The new record by the Met Office comes amidst a recent spell of mild weather.

Why is it so mild?

The jet stream is the boundary between cold air from the Arctic and warm air from the equator.

If we are to the south of the jet stream, this implies we are in milder or warm air, usually associated with a higher humidity.

Since October, the jet stream has on a few occasions become stuck in a ‘trough’ position. This means the jet stream is not moving from west to east, but moving from south to north, allowing warm and humid air from much further afield to reach Northern Ireland.

In this case the air is coming from the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic. As long as the jet stream remains in this position, there will be a constant supply of unseasonably mild weather.

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