UK weather: ‘No sign’ rain will end soon as jet stream keeps Britain in a ‘rut’

Britain can expect more rain in the coming days as the current weather "rut" shows no sign of shifting, a meteorologist has said.

In contrast to southern Europe, much of which is experiencing the damaging effects of heatwaves, the UK has experienced an unsettled weekend with heavy rain affecting much of the country, and further showers are to be expected.

Jim Dale, the founder of British Weather Services, told Yahoo News UK that a mixture of sunshine and showers are to be expected in the coming week.

"We aren't expecting the volumes of rain experienced in the north over the weekend, " he said, "but on the whole, what we have had, we will keep."

Dale said that the current unsettled weather is due to a jet stream off the coast of the Atlantic.

"Ocean temperatures are five or six degrees higher than they should be," he explained, "and the extra energy off the ocean means higher levels of moisture in the air, so more rain.

"In a summer situation, like now, this is bearable. If the same happened in winter it would be very cold and miserable."

Dale said the jet stream above the UK and northern European neighbours such as Belgium, northern France and the Netherlands, is keeping temperatures cool and rainfall above average. The cross airs - those caught between the jet stream and the heatwave of southern Europe, can lead to hail and thunderstorms in regions such as mid-France and northern Italy, while the heatwave below also shows "no sign of relenting any time soon".

The weekend's bad weather affected sports fixtures including the cricket at Old Trafford, where Australia retained the Ashes after rain prevented any play on the final day of the fourth test against England.

Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan told Yahoo News UK that parts of Lancashire experienced up to 100ml of rainfall over the weekend, the average rainfall for the whole of July in the region, but that while showers would reduce, temperatures would remain average or a little below for the time of year.

"It will be hit and miss when it comes to showers," he said, "and the forecast is that it will stay unsettled and changeable for the coming days. Nothing too problematic, but as low pressure dominates, the weekend could see thunderstorms, and be breezy for many."

Morgan said that average temperatures were expected to continue into August, "with no sign of the heatwave from Europe moving north".

Why is weather in the UK so different to that in southern Europe?

Dale said the current heatwave being experienced in southern European countries such as Italy and Greece is part of a global issue.

"Much of southern Europe as well as parts of Asia - including Siberia - as well as America, Canada and northern Africa are all under a heat dome," he said.

"There's a huge expanse of flabby high pressure where the hot air goes up, comes down, hits the hot land and goes back up again. The heat gets revolved and keeps circulating. A normal block like this might get interspersed, but this current episode is going nowhere fast."

Dale, whose book Weather or Not addresses the impact of rising global temperatures on health, wellbeing, sport and more, warned that parts of Europe could register record temperatures on Monday, suggesting that inland Sicily may be on course to hit 48C.

"It is almost everywhere except the northern quadrant of Europe," he said, adding that the world is at a "tipping point" when it comes to climate change.

"What we are seeing globally is without doubt climate topped," he said. "Join the dots and you end up with climate change."

When will the weather change?

Both Morgan and Dale forecast that unsettled sunshine and showers together with average or slightly below average temperatures would continue into the first half of August.

"The jet stream won't just disappear," said Dale, "it has to go somewhere. We get into ruts and a change in air mass is needed from high pressure to push low pressure out. If low pressure pushes up from the Azores in Portugal, that could dislocate the current rut," he concluded. "But there's no sign of that happening in the next week or two."

Watch: UK weather: 12 flood alerts issued as heavy rain continues in northern England and Wales