The rain gauge data is in for 2019 and the colour coded map shows the percentage of normal precipitation for the year, relative to the 1981-2010 climate average.
Looking at the Prescient Weather map in the image above, Australia stands out as being particularly dry, compared to normal levels. For Europe, values were not far from the 30 year averagebutparts of England and Wales were wet, and it was drier than normal in Iceland and parts of Spain.
So far this winter, significant cold snaps have been lacking and the weather patterns for north westEurope for January suggest a wet andwindy month is on the cards. This does mean gale force winds at times for the UK andIreland as well as spells of heavy rain, notably for western Scotland.
A stronger than average jet stream will likely bring frequent low pressure systems in from the nearly Atlantic Ocean, so we can expect many weather warnings to be issued.
Vast areas of Europe are expected to be warmer or much warmer than average, especially for Scandinavia and eastern Europe. An area of high pressure will occasionally settle over central and southern Europe to give some colder weather and these regions will be much drier than average, notably for south eastEurope.
The MetDesk weather map in the main page image shows the forecast for the period 15th to 21st January. The main low pressure is centred to the west of Iceland and the high pressure impacts most countries from Spain to Romania. A relatively mild but strong south-westerly prevailing wind will bring the wet and windy weather particularly to parts of Ireland, north westEngland, Scotland and Norway.
Further east and southeast across mainland Europe the weather will be quieter with below normal wind and rain, and above average sunshine levels for January, although some areas of the Mediterranean could have some wet spells.
We'll be back in a few weeks to see if this weather pattern will continue through February.
For more weather information you can follow our meteorologist, Simon Cardy on twitter weather_king.
