MR CB

I think the south and south east could have a second wave later on...the mass currently south of Caen is merging with other cells and moving N-NE (is this main rain event?). Of course it could divert straight up the Channel again but it does seem to placed more west than the first current wave. I'm still getting rumbles and the odd flash to my east... The trough to the west of France has all but fizzled out...still a bit near the Channel Islands

New cells seem to be going up around this mass - as I've just had two close lightning stikes (within a mile or two). Seems to still be developing...could be quite interesting....is mergering properly and rain area expanding...core seems look like a snake

There was some lightning in the Channel when I went out and had a look...sadly it all stayed off the coast. I've had no lightning on thunder now since my last post...if those merge properly it could form a small slow moving MCS running up the Dover Strait or become a 'Kent clipper'

Its clearly rotating around that area of low pressure over western France I think and appears to move NW - therefore heading for you. The storms in the Channel have sprung up due to that low pressure's interaction with the warm moist air over Northern France these are moving N-NE. An expert would know better...

Hi Thunderman - haven't see you for quite a while :unsure: looks like you may not see anything now, but perhaps later tonight - as its all moving N-NE (another band just south of Caen)

Right just come off the seafront and have observed some very bright but infrequent flashes of lightning - these cells are very slow moving. The rain falls quite steadily early on and gradually gets heavier. I've come back as the lightning and thunder have reduced to about 1 strike every 5 mins - a little disappointing. What I did see was wonderful. YIKES just had a close one with a good rumble of thunder!!! Looks like I'm caught the average rainy bit of the storm but with the main cores staying in the Channel and perhaps moving onto the Kent coast :unsure: Phil those photos are fantastic!

I've just seen distant lightning to my west off the Sussex coast - only popped my head out of the window for a second...I'm off guys!!!!

Is the rain area now forming over Biscay / Brest area of France at the moment? Looks set for a slow track to Central Southern England atm... Its hard to think that upto 60-90mm could fall in 18-24 hours - certainly would put a strain on Southern England's drainage systems and already saturated ground. Could the last few dry days provided some sort of relief? I guess any torrential bursts could be slow moving and prolonged... Will be keeping a close eye on this...

I've just had a look back at this thread and I'm amazed that some video exists...I nearly choked on my strawberries on the Meridian footage and when I saw that base in the background I immediately said supercell!. I so wish I had been nearer (perhaps looking east from Sovereign Harbour) but you can never foresee these things - I had no idea this storm would turn into a monster. When it skimmed the Eastbourne coastline it was just a 45 min intense thunderstorm with a noticeable gust / rain front - there was no hint of 'things to come' to be honest. Once it moved through it did seem 'extraordinary' and the anvil was very high indeed - even on its approach. I certainly won't forget this one in a hurry! Next time I see a storm with serious cirrus veil and outflow I'm getting out there double time! I should also get a proper digital camera! Please note that the times I gave in my observation reply a couple of pages back are out by one hour...they should all be one hour forward (something to do with my PC and phone's time and date stamp..) this matches the time the storm was in Hastings affected Tamara. The only other time we may have had a supercell (similar to this) was early May 2003 around the Pevensey / Bexhill area - I drove through that and again the hail was incredible. A tornado did spawn in North Langney...put nowhere as much damage.

For some reason I can't edit any of my posts I need to point out that my timings in my lengthy post on Page 2 are an hour out...it should start from one hour later at 1950...it seems that my computer is misreading the date and time stamp whereas the metadata from the camera gives the correct time...apologies Thanks for passing on the info Paul - that must've been quite a sight seeing a waterspout having a go at Hastings Pier!

As mentioned earlier I've decided to post my photos and descriptions here of this potent thunderstorm that Tamara G and what later on many others along the Kent coast experienced...all photos and video have been captured using my SE W850 mobile phone. Sorry if its over dramatic or too long but it seems I'm the only one so far to have some sort of evidence of the event - albeit not as extreme as it would be further along the coast! The first signs for me that something was on its way was around 1800 when the anvil's outflow (which stretched for miles inland) obscured the sun with its cirrus feil...at about 1830 I went out for a quick look, I could see some very large well defined anvils towards The Channel (off Brighton Coast) - one in particular stood out. At about 1845 I ventured out onto the seafront and walked quickly towards Eastbourne Bandstand...I took this photo below on the way there http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00157.jpg I finally found a good spot to watch it all come in, about 200 yards from the Wish Tower (which was behind me) and took these overhead shots at 1910 of the anvil and its outflow. The second photo here is not the storm passing through but just the outflow overhead of the anvil looking NE! http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00158.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00159.jpg (NEW PHOTO) It certainly was impressive and as more medium level cloud moved out of the way I could see its main structure out into the Channel...by now I could hear distinct rumbles of thunder and see some faint distant lightning flashes. Some people decided to best leave the beach - I stayed! 1915 things started shaping up - the sky grew much darker and the base was getting nearer. These photos show the storms gradual descent onto the Eastbourne area. This is looking SW-W towards the Holywell and Meads area. A few CG bolts on the Downs and some CC Lightning would occasionally zip across to my right near the lighter / yellow area - possible anvil creepers as it did seem high up. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00160.jpg (NEW PHOTO) http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00161.jpg (NEW PHOTO) http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00162.jpg (NEW PHOTO) 1920 its started to rain so I made a mad dash for shelter (under Wish Tower) - rain drops where quite large. This is a poor photo (sorry) of the squall or gust front over the sea...a dark grey divide was clearly visible - behind this a huge light grey sheet of heavy rain. This could well've been the cloud or squall that Tamara G was talking about...the second photo was taken after the low dark grey cloud had moved through and became a light grey haze with very heavy rain http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00164.jpg (NEW PHOTO) http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00165.jpg 1940 the rain had stopped and the storm has cleared to the east...this was looking south. On the second photo you will see a weird low cloud that just appeared out of nowhere and rolled into the hills from off the sea http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00167.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00169.jpg 1945 and looking towards Eastbourne Pier and east at Hastings the anvil looks very menacing indeed http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00172.jpg 1950 - Anvil departing nicely but leaves behind strange cloud formations in its wake. These scud clouds looked intruiging...the second one may have a very weak funnel in the centre of the photo...I caught this too late as I wasn't sure at first - but it definetly looked like a piece of snaking rope http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00173.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y212/dave...er/DSC00174.jpg (NEW PHOTO) A video of the weird misty cloud (that rolled in within mins of the storm clearing is attached). Drag Quicktime's scroll button and watch how it rolls off the sea in seconds... Wind was strong - that's not thunder in the video btw! Phew - hope you all find this worthwhile.... after this monster had ploughed through I wish I'd taken more photos now! MOV00170.3GP

Seeing as this was an 'extreme' event I'll be posting my description and other photos later this evening so that they don't get lost in the other thread...

The other cells just NE of that awesome one Paul is observing are developing white cores too....also this MCS is stuck in the Channel and looks like it'll pass me by....again East Kent may get some torrential rain on the coast as it skims past - does seem to be moving N-NE....gloomy skies here with drizzle

That one NE of London is a corker - white core as well - def one to chase guys! could grow quite large and its only 4pm!

How exciting....those cells are amazing in London and Essex - great development in little under an hour - must've been a trigger somewhere :lol: keeping an eye on this 'MCS' too for my area - hopefully I won't miss out

Now now Tamara no need to get 'kinky' with the weather.... at least its not blooming April all over again! - a whole month of sunshine - how boring was that! :lol: ....the good news is that its not disapating like yesterday when we had that cap limit that killed it all off (Paul was right mentioning this I think)....just looks like a soggy rush hour home for peeps.....just started raining here!

Yes they seem to be having difficulty with this week's forecast - it was supposed to have been raining for most of us here Wednesday evening onwards - we haven't had a drop Now this mass seems to be heading for Southern England and more prolonged for the SE corner, although the heavier pulses (possible torrential thundery rain) look like they will stay in the Channel or flirt the extreme SE

There where a few clubbers about but not many....could hear some screams everytime a big flash happened I stayed under the Pier to avoid getting soaked... Yeah the lightning was quite frequent and some cloud to cloud flashes sustained for a good few seconds...it started easing off around 3am....I went home and fell asleep then and did't hear anything else. The thunder was strange at first with distant booms every 10 secs - quite extraordinary. Wish I had taken my mobile for footage - in the rush to get out I forgot! Shame you guys in Eastern England are gonna miss out - its dieing out and moving further east than forecast....

Amazing night wasn't it Tamara?...I stayed out from 12.45am to 2.45am on Eastbourne seafront and had to shelter under the pier from the rain....plenty of forked CG lightning to start with as it gradually moved up from the Channel...lots of sheet lightning / CC which lit up the whole sky at times. Once the main rain had stopped about 2ish we had less frequent flashes, but quite big flashes of lightning and decent booms of thunder until 3am at least! Was a nice surprise considering the 2230 BBC Weather Forecast made no mention of storms for my area...they did forecast that area of thundery rain in Eastern England correctly....I guess my storms broke out ahead of this.... Even stranger is that a girl (coming out from nightclub) saw me watching the storm out to sea and came up to me, she commented on it etc and then mentioned that she is a member of TORRO! Its funny how life surprises you....I've made a new friend - and hope I bump into her again! We chatted about storms and weather for a good couple of hours while all of this was raging on!

Its very humid here....what a surprise in the Channel there's me listening to Rex The Dog mixes for the last half hour and its all kicking off....I'm out to the seafront guys!!!! seeya later I can hear rumbles every 10 secs or so and the wind is increasing!!!

Well the rain has been coming down in sheets here and has just started to ease off - no thunder or lightning at all now so its lost some electrical activity 0043 - forced to eat my own words as a flash of lightning and a weird crack of thunder happen

The 0000 radar suggests that your cell will pass just near me but heading west...the other larger cell still out in the Channel is more active and is heading along the Sussex coast bound for Brighton - may make landfall round there, could be worth it if stays active...there was a slight blip on the radar for a second earlier (loss of activity) but that was me expecting the worst! Also I think the two cells could merge... Here we go downpour now as I type!!!!