What influences the path of Atlantic low pressure systems?
I reside in the United States so I do not follow closely the normal storm path that impacts the UK and Ireland. However, I will try to answer at least part of your question. 1. Storms will form and get organized in areas of instability. Having the sea surface temperature warmer will more likely keep an area more unstable. Therefore it is not surprising that we would see more convective and organized activity developing over the Gulf Stream. The warmer waters of the Gulf Stream will also add one other factor to storm development. With a warmer water surface temperature, you will also increase the low level moisture through the increase in evaporation. This can help “fuel” an organized storm system. Sometimes this development can be rapid. This is especially true if you have cold air dropping from the north. The following link is a satellite animation that you can watch and see some of these activities over the western Atlantic Ocean. Please note that this animation was made to view the
