What is 'anticyclonic gloom' and why is it making UK weather more miserable than usual?

Brits have endured days of mild, grey with little sign of change, as most of the UK under a ceiling of cloud, with little rain and no sun to speak of.

The last time there was any significant sunshine seen in these isles was Sunday October 27, more than 10 days ago, according to the .

So why is the doing this? Why are things so settled but dreary in the UK currently? The culprit is an area of high pressure that is currently sitting over the UK. Usually highs are associated with sunny days, light winds and dry weather - but in the autumn and this can have a different outcome, anticyclonic gloom.

Anticyclonic gloom is the result of a high pressure system arriving in autumn or winter, and while it can still result in fine bright days, it can also work to trap moisture close to the ground. This moisture forms low cloud, mist and fog and with the high pressure stopping winds arriving, it cannot be cleared away.

If the high pressure system lingers, as the one over us is currently doing, the gloom cycle continues with the cooler temperatures causing the cloud and fog to condense overnight, only to re-evaporate the next day. The still air is also bad for air quality, with places like big cities experiencing a build-up of pollutants.

Normally the jet stream acts as a conveyor belt, bringing low pressure weather systems into the UK from across the Atlantic, but it has been weak and sluggish lately, proving unable to shift the high pressure area responsible for our current spell of anticyclonic gloom.

By the weekend there could be a low pressure front headed in from the west that could dislodge the high, bringing rin to northern and western parts of the UK but it will lose energy when it encounters the area of high pressure.

So the current run of grey, dry weather is set to continue, with cloud currently squashed down to around 800 ft by the high pressure. However its not all doom and gloom, as the Met office said we could be set for more sunshine from next week.

“Behind this weekend's front there could be something brighter into next week as the air mass changes,” the forecaster said. “The air will be drier with less moisture so there should be more in the way of sunshine to lift the morning mist, low cloud and gloom and, of course, the spirits.”

Meanwhile in the near term, this afternoon is set to remain cloudy and murky for many, the odd spot of drizzle possible. In Northern , however it will be bright, where the low cloud can’t make it over the hills.