So wow.
What a day yesterday!
Started out okay, as usual convection took it’s sweet little time to get going but by the time it finally did I had made it as far as the M40 junction with the A34 and had just decided to head back down towards London.
Saw in my wing mirror an anvil spreading out and thought “I’ll check that on radar”
Sure enough a couple of fresh sferics corresponded with the approx location of the cell, so I gave chase northwestwards.
Within 25 mins driving the cell had fully burst into life and others were popping up too around it.
Visually it was a bit of a mess, huge clouds all around couldn’t ascertain which was what - but I had essentially driven into a thunderstorm factory and it wasn’t moving in any particular direction any time soon!
Found a perfect spot just north of Kenilworth, parked up and watched as the storms continued to grow...
Storms were moving NWwards but lifespan was fairly short, however as new cells replaced them it essentially gave the impression of a very, very slow northerly track.
It was just one long continuous rumble from where I was - the polar opposite to my experiences on Saturday where heavy rain high wind messed with any acoustics. In contrast - yesterday was relatively still with a gentle breeze and light convective showers - pretty good really!
I could hear music wafting from behind distant trees. Considered this to be a local event, but then when I heard “Red Red Wine” being played I had a sudden realisation. Turned on Radio 2 to hear the same thing... and quickly realised I was only a short distance from BBCs Biggest Weekend in Coventry!
Not everyday you get UB40 play live when you’re out chasing
Back to the storms - could sense the lightning flashes from time to time, almost on the periphery, but knew closer to the cells there would have been quite frequent flashes - (mostly elevated as individual cells were tall and quite big)
As cells began to track north I saw some CCs and CGs but they didn’t come out massively well in the photos as were infrequent and too far away.
Also think I saw a LCL appear to my west toward Birmingham. Seemed to be scud moving about underneath, but was hard to see. Got a video anyway...
One thing really got me was how huge the overshooting top was on the cluster of cells. Could see it in the distance and it was MASSIVE!
Storms themselves were starting to dissipate a little though, so I decided enough was enough - time to head home and hopefully in time for a last orders pint at our local pub...
Had a look at the radar and was astonished to see my route home was literally underneath in a 40 mile thunderstorm! Yesss!
Turns out the convergence zone straddled the M40 / M1 - and it was kicking off big time!
Chose the M1 option and at first could only see the distant thunderheads. Got a mile or two closer there were suddenly peripheral flashes - like I had crossed some sort of lightning boundary. Instantly - really frequent! There were no immediate turn-offs available so I stopped at Watford Gap to try to get some photos, but this cell was short-lived (despite the severity these were still pulse storms).
All the way along the motorway it was fairly frequent flashes all around and the occasional CC fork. Then I got stuck as the carriageway appeared to have been closed for repairs. Saw some impatient idiots were trying to use the hard shoulder to bypass the queue which could have blocked the route for the emergency services (I’ll be honest part of me was tempted because I had storms to chase - but common sense prevailed)
25 min delay here which was significant later on as it made me miss the most mature stage of the Aylesbury monster anvil everyone in the south could see. Once the motorway reopened I drove as quickly as was safe to do so in the poor conditions (and battling with the 60% of drivers using lanes 2 to overtake all those non-existent lorries and vans, plus the 10% who are under the illusion that lane 3 is specifically for executive vehicles - come on ppl sort it out!) but I had a lot of ground to cover to get in front of the southernmost backbuilding cells.
Eventually made it to Chorleywood (Dog Kennel Lane), clambered the small hill and faced the beast head on. Tripod quick! Camera quick!
FLASH! FLASH! .... FLASH! .... ..... Flash! .... ..... ..... flash ....
...
... nothing.
Aaaaagagh!
Always happens!
Mind you - if anyone had told me I would end the day’s chase racing a storm southwards toward the Guildford area I wouldn’t have believed you for a second just a shame I missed the chance to film or photo loads of those stunning anvil crawlers I could see as I passed Luton and Dunstable. Beautiful!
IMO a far better storm than what i observed the previous night. It’s what we chasers like to see - conditions have to be right, clear skies making for good obs of high storm cells and thunderheads and slow motion of storms. Rain on Saturday was a real problem, but it was more confined yesterday to the cells themselves, and the wind was less gusty.
Definitely a memorable day, just a shame I couldn’t get some really good photos in the end - but an awesome experience all the same
Glad I decided to chase!
All the risk maps I’ve seen had a box for the potential for brief funnel producing storms across the central areas of Surrey - to some degree. I think convergence was expected to kick off showers that would then continue inland a little way. Either way I agree with you at this point we shouldnt expect anything in those areas now, unless the Sussex cells get started and drift this way. This whole area is a notorious hotspot for difficulty starting storms up - we do well only a handful of times every couple of years but when we do, it goes OFF!
