What is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)?

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin explains the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) - a term used to describe the variations in the large-scale surface pressure gradient in the North Atlantic region - and how it impacts our weather.

You may also enjoy:

We are the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, and every day of the week we bring you a morning weather forecast and an afternoon weather forecast so that wherever you are in the UK we have you covered. Forecasts and any weather warnings are accurate at time of recording.

To ensure you have the most up to date weather information, check the hourly forecast and live warnings on the Met Office website or app.

[niknicholson]

Brit in S. Spain here. My Spanish neighbour, who keeps weather records, has mentioned the Azores high as being a big influence on Western European weather. It does seem that UK and South Spanish weather seem to flip-flop: dry in the UK means we get much needed rain here. 12th June 2023 and the UK is coming to the end of a dry 5 weeks as S. Spain is coming to the end of a wet 5 weeks.

[VoltSnake]

Would the storms we just experienced (storms Dudley & Eunice, 2022) be caused by a positive gradient in the NAO? I know the westerly winds brought very strong gusts with wet and stormy weather but just wondering if this was the main factor that caused the storms?

[sayanjana]

can we get a video on atlantic tripole?

[voicezful]

Alex Deakin was right after all, sorry about my mis-guided previous comment.

[tsehayenegash]

what is the meaning, formation and application of annual oscillation (AO)?

[Ace-Maverick]

Thank you for the video! It was very informative. Question: Does the variation of the gradient between the high and low pressure areas correlate with the strength of the Ferrel Cell? Thank you!

[hmabboud]

But this is all in the winter. What about the summer?

[sroc]

Pretty sure a negative NAO involves ridging, or HP, in the North Atlantic; not weaker LP as illustrated in this video.

[tomaud]

Azores High should be called Macaronesia High.

[voicezful]

What a bunch of baloney. I thought it was the jet stream or the long forgotten El Nino affect.