From The Times November 18, 2009

Weather eye: Remnants of Hurricane Ida set to bring heavy rain

Be warned — if you are feeling battered and bruised from the recent onslaught of gales, there is more to come. Another gale is due to lash the western side of Britain hard today and tomorrow with strong winds and heavy rainfall — up to about 100mm (4in) or more could fall on higher ground. Those downpours have been beefed up by the remnants of an old tropical storm, Hurricane Ida, which recently pummelled the US with record rainfalls in many places.

Although Ida died out days ago, its cargo of warm, wet tropical air has become wrapped up in the Atlantic gale, adding to the rainload about to drop on the UK.

There is also something strange about this recent outburst of stormy activity — the very mild weather. Today or tomorrow we may see temperatures climb to 17C (63F) — several degrees above normal. That warmth is being pumped up on southwesterly winds from the sub-tropics at latitudes equivalent to North Africa. And the heat may last into next weekend, which could make for some magnificent weather, provided the wind and rain stay away. Figures for the month so far from the Met Office reveal that up to November 15, inclusive, temperatures in England and Wales averaged 8.1C (46.6F), which is 1.6C (2.9F) above average, one of the highest temperature anomalies of any month so far this year. In contrast, average rainfall for England and Wales was 88.8mm (3.5in), more than 50 per cent above the norm.