We have bookend lows in extreme SW and NE of the continent while high pressure dominates in between. The jet is splitting west of Ireland with the greatest energy on the southern branch, hence why we have a major low bringing wet and stormy conditions to the Canaries, Northwest Africa extending into southern Iberia.

Impressive shelf cloud rolling in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife.

Plenty of lightning within those clouds too.

Check out this wave battering Bajamar, Tenerife

The first snows whiten 12,000ft Mt Teide, Tenerife.

Great shot of the rime ice already built up on the upper slopes of Teide.

A strong SSW flow on east side of the low drove the thermometer to record levels.

These strong winds blowing off Africa has indeed picked up Saharan dust too!

Low pressure in the opposite corner of the continent is dropping heavy snow in Western Russia as well as eastern Scandinavia and the Baltics as low pressure throws moisture into increasingly cold air blowing in from Siberia.

Cold and snow is crossing Russia’s continental divide.

This is the city of Magnitogorsk which sits of the Europe/Asia border at the southern end of the Ural Mountains.

The cold is drifting west, this is in far western Russia city of Smolensk.

Southern Finland’s first snow yesterday morning.

GFS shows a lot of snow to come from Turkey to Finland in the next week.

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Cold shot to open November?

Very unusual to see this split in the polar vortex this early but it’s happening folks! Cold open to November likely!

Enjoy the mild now and over the next few days but the chill gathering over eastern Europe is heading UK-bound as we enter November. How cold? Remains to be seen but keep in mind it’s early still.

See today’s video.

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