After Hurricane Milton left a devastating trail of destruction in the US state of Florida, the Met Office has given its verdict on how this could affect weather in the UK as the storm crosses the Atlantic.
The category three weather event has claimed the lives of more than a dozen people and caused catastrophic damage to buildings when it arrived in Florida on Wednesday (October 9). It is now heading east and its remnants will eventually make its way to the UK.
While Europe is unlikely to see anything close to the same level of destruction seen in the US, as the storm mostly dissipates over the ocean, the storm could still have an impact on the weather here, the Express reports.
The Met Office said: “Milton is expected to weaken to a tropical storm once over the open waters of the Atlantic and transition into an extratropical storm after it passes to the south of Bermuda.
“Beyond this, the remnant is likely to either be absorbed into a frontal zone or dissipate in situ in the subtropical Atlantic. If the remnants of Milton end up in the Atlantic as a weakening feature, it could cause some forecast uncertainty next week.”
The “forecast uncertainty” is due to the way that hurricanes typically affect computer-generated weather predictions. Long and mid-range forecasts are often made less reliable as the storm interferes with data collection processes.
Although we’re not being told to brace ourselves for a hurricane, the Met Office has said that some parts of the UK could be battered by strong winds and rain.
The forecaster has, however, acknowledged that the “chaotic nature of the atmosphere”, combined with weather events in the Atlantic, means that forecasts beyond five days are likely to be less accurate.