What Met Office says about ‘ex-hurricane’ that will bring ‘lot of uncertainty’ to UK weather

Meteorologists say a looming 500-mile tropical storm in Atlantic will be an ‘ex-hurricane’ before it sweeps UK

July will end with an outbreak of heavy and prolonged showers in parts of the country as it’s already on its way to become the UK’s wettest month.

The Met Office warned of unsettled and overcast skies for most with outbreaks of rain after the weekend ended with bands of heavy showers sweeping the west.

Downpours will often be heavy and continue for hours across Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England, the weather agency said.

Scotland will also witness some isolated thunderstorms with brighter spells in the northern part of the region and later across eastern England.

Monday will be another breezy and cool day to make way for further “unsettled” and wet August.

“Unsettled with further wet and windy weather. Some brighter spells possible later on Tuesday and Wednesday morning but then further showers and longer spells of rain likely. Often feeling cool,” the Met office said in its forecast for Tuesday to Thursday.

This is ahead of a looming 500-mile tropical storm in the Atlantic with the tail end expected to bring a "lot of uncertainty" in the UK, forecasters warned.

Meteorologists said the storm will be an “ex-hurricane" before it sweeps the UK bringing more rain.

Kathryn Chalk from the Met Office told the Daily Express that “there is a lot of uncertainty” given how far it is right now “though this could bring a further area of low pressure for next weekend”.

"It won’t be a hurricane if/when it reaches the UK as they are tropical features which require sea temperatures much higher than those around the UK and instead can be classified as ‘ex-hurricanes’ or ‘extra-tropical cyclones’ if we are affected by them,” she told the outlet.

"Ex-hurricanes and tropical storms merging into the North Atlantic low pressures systems is not that unusual."

The UK has witnessed weeks of heavy rain and thunder in July, even as large parts of Europe sweltered in record-shattering heatwaves and after the country experienced its hottest June on record.