Britain could be in for unsettled weather next week as forecasters track the remnants of Hurricane Isaias across the Atlantic in the days ahead.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season is expected to reach the US Gulf Coast tonight, bringing powerful winds, a potentially dangerous storm surge and the risk of severe flooding.
After travelling up the US East Coast over the weekend, the low-pressure system is forecast to be absorbed by the jet stream before moving east across the Atlantic towards the UK.
Some weather models suggest Isaias’s remnants could carry tropical air, strong winds and heavy rain to Britain by the middle of next week, although the precise effects remain uncertain.
ITV weather presenter Laura Tobin told Good Morning Britain today that the low-pressure system could lead to “some stormy conditions by the middle of next week”.
The Met Office has adopted a more cautious outlook, with forecasters assessing how the storm system will interact with broader atmospheric patterns in the coming days.
Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey told the Daily Mail this morning: “Hurricane Isaias is currently forecast to make landfall along the US Gulf Coast later today.
“Before landfall, the system may briefly strengthen further, bringing the potential for damaging winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall to parts of the southern US.
The low-pressure system is expected to be picked up by the Atlantic jet stream in the coming days
The Met Office will track the system’s interaction with wider atmospheric conditions
Forecasters say the remnants of Hurricane Isaias could bring strong winds and heavy rain
Several low-pressure systems are forecast to cross the North Atlantic next week
Hurricane Isaias is pictured developing over the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm this week
“Following landfall, Isaias is expected to weaken as it moves inland, although heavy rain may continue to affect parts of the southern and eastern US for several days.
“While the remnants are forecast to move north-eastwards into the Atlantic, it is too early to determine whether they will have any influence on the UK’s weather.”
Ms Maxey said the outcome would “depend on how the system interacts with the wider atmospheric pattern over the coming days”. She added that forecasters would “monitor developments closely and will update the forecast as confidence increases”.
Met Office senior operational meteorologist Marco Petagna tweeted last night that there was a “bit more ‘oomf’ just starting to show up in low pressure developments taking place in the northern North Atlantic heading into next week”.
Meanwhile, northern England is set for a blustery day, with gusts of up to 60mph expected to create difficult conditions, particularly across the Pennines.
The strong south-westerly winds will also drive heavy rain into the region. Western hills are likely to see the most persistent downpours, with up to 2in (50mm) potentially falling widely.
Tomorrow is expected to bring sunny intervals and showers, with hail and thunder possible in north-western areas. Sunday, by contrast, should be largely dry and bright, with only light winds.
Monday is expected to be cloudy with showery rain, followed by a brighter but breezy Tuesday. Conditions will then remain changeable throughout mid-October.
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The Met Office said Austen, Boelo and Chloe will be the first named storms of the season
A series of low pressure systems will run across the North Atlantic, often to the north and northwest of the UK, bringing occasional bands of rain and strong winds.
These will be interspersed with brighter and showery conditions, with rain expected to be most widespread across hills in western and especially north-western parts.
Longer drier interludes are likely in southern-eastern areas, but will still see some rain – and the rest of the month is also set to maintain a changeable pattern overall.
Temperatures have fallen over the past days to around average for the time of year – after last month was the joint-fourth warmest September in the UK on record.
This year has also seen the UK’s seventh warmest April, the joint-third warmest May, the second warmest June, the second warmest July and the sixth warmest August.
The Met Office said the country went 117 consecutive days where somewhere recorded at least 20C – a run which started on June 12 and ended on Wednesday.
After an extremely dry summer, most of England and all of Wales remain officially in drought and about 30million people are still under hosepipe restrictions.
But supercharged El Niño conditions in the Pacific – which affect weather across the world – are set to put the UK at greater risk of a wet and stormy autumn overall.
Women leave the beach at Perdido Key in Florida yesterday as Hurricane Isaias approaches
Men place plywood over windows in Pensacola, Florida, yesterday ahead of Hurricane Isaias
A couple spend time at the beach at Dauphin Island in Alabama yesterday before the hurricane
In the US, residents have been boarding up windows and stacking sandbags while thousands of National Guard soldiers have been deploying in anticipation of Isaias.
The Category 2 hurricane will cause dangerous conditions in the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall late tonight.
Heavy rain and flooding were possible into the weekend as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina, as the system strikes along the Alabama-Florida state line.
Meanwhile Hurricane Simon, which formed as a tropical storm on Wednesday off Mexico and became a hurricane last night, is set to strengthen into a Category 4.
Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 105mph last night and could bring 15in (38cm) of rain, with water from the storm surge and high tide reaching up to 7ft.
The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet so far this year because of the strong El Niño phenomenon, which disrupts storm formation over the ocean.
In the UK, the first named storm of the 2026/27 season will be Storm Austen, in the partnership between the Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and Dutch service KNMI.
Met Éireann selected the name in honour of Austen Nagle, the Irish Meteorological Service’s first director. It is unclear whether any storm will be named next week.