Supacell

Thanks for that. It looks a serious storm by all accounts. Back to the UK, there does look to be a risk of some thunderstorms tomorrow evening in the NE of England and SE of Scotland. It is a small zone but in that zone the forecast CAPE is up to 500j/kg on GFS and although 20 knots of wind shear is not a great deal it could be enough to allow for some organisation, particularly along a line of wind convergence which seems to form over the North Pennines and then shift NE towards the coast. Euro4 is offering up around an inch of rain between 6pm and midnight tomorrow evening in the NE.

Not UK related but footage of a large tornado near to Venice, Italy - taken yesterday afternoon I believe. http://thevane.gawker.com/video-appears-to-show-italians-terrifying-encounter-wit-1716580804

This would explain why trying to get a freeze frame from my GoPro camcorder has this "stripey" effect on some of the lightning shots I have taken whereas my old mini-dv camcorder didn't. Of course, when playing the video you don't actually see this as the scanning must occur in a fraction of a second.

Yes this is often a problem for me. I have still not figured out how to get rid of the wind but keep the other sounds.

I may be mistaken, or clutching at straws, but I am drawn to the early part of tomorrow as a front moving from the NW to the SE looks to produce a very defined but narrow band of intense precipitation. I am interested in the possibility of storms running along it. The following charts are taken from lightning wizard and so are based on GFS and are for 06z tomorrow. Parcel Layer Depth quite impressive along a narrow line. Looks to me like a NW to SE moving line with SW to NE moving storms (if there are any). As small amount of MUCAPE (most unstable) and ICAPE (integrated) available but combined with 30-40 knots of deep layer shear. Thompson index and precipitation on chart 1 - hail parameter on chart 2 showing hail of up to 2-3cm in diameter Plenty of moisture along the same narrow strip. Does anyone else have a view on this?

I know pollutants in the atmosphere can make the moon appear red because of the way the pollutants affect the wavelengths that can get through... or something like that. This is only apparent when the moon is fairly low in the sky though, and never when the moon is overhead. If you apply this same science to lightning it could explain red/orange lightning when a distance away and on the horizon. I have never seen overhead or close lightning that is red... only ever blue, white or occasionally pink. Incidentally the pink lightning I have witnessed has always been during the evening hours (i.e. as the sun is getting lower in the sky). The storm on Saturday morning occurred in a plume scenario, air quality was poor and it happened overnight and continued on towards dawn. I can see on mu video a slight red tint to the blackness on the horizon, possibly from the sun just behind the horizon ahead of sunrise. This may explain the red and white/blue tints to the lightning at the end of the night - red on the horizon but blue/white when closer. The snap below is from a distant flash - notice the reds, blues and whites (albeit feint) and the redness on the horizon looking east. Sorry it is not brighter but by this time the storms were around 15 miles away to my east.

Another thundery shower just passing to the south on the radar. Tuesday morning could be interesting with what likes like an active cold front moving through during the early hours. GFS shows around 500j/kg of CAPE along a narrow line coupled with deep layer shear and low ELT's. Too far away for any detail yet.

Well Derby missed out on both bands and it has remained bone dry. That squall line feature moving into the NE looks impressive on radar and also from underneath it looking at the photos.

Rapid intensification across N Cheshire and into Manchester. Nothing around Derby though, as the south of the band looks to be fizzling. Showers over Wales will give us in the Midlands another shot, although not looking very potent currently.

A nice gap in the heaviest precipitation heading for Derby.... I guess this is one of the reasons I chase storms and don't rely on them coming to me

It is looking increasingly interesting, I am hoping not to have to travel though as would like to see one at home. Yes, Friday night I met a storm near to Stone in Staffordshire and then after watching it come over I chased along the line of storms on the A50 east from Uttoxeter back to Derby. I arrived in Derby just as a cell there was moving off to the NE.

Actually, having checked the direction I think the showers are moving in a NNW direction and so anything over Brum more likely to affect Staffordshire than here. A few sferics breaking out between Evesham and Banbury.

I have my eye on those showers moving through you.

I have seen red and orange lightning a few times, including early hours yesterday. It does seem to be when further away though and only in plume events from the continent. I do think it has to do with dust and pollution in the air as this would explain why they only occur when the lightning is further away and only in plume events whereby pollution is brought in from the continent on the plume. These most recent storms brought blue/white and orange flashes in the clouds at the same time once the storms were a long way over the horizon. I wonder if this had anything to do with the sun beginning to rise at the same time.

I could be well placed for something thundery again late afternoon as that trough in the west swings NE. I am hoping it will intensify as it moves into the higher CAPE inland.

Having chased both Wednesday night and last nights storm I have to say that although both were great the one on Wednesday night was better. The lightning frequency in that storm are the like I have never witnessed with more than 1 flash every second, last night's were about 1 every 10-20 seconds which is still far better than most UK storms. No doubt that both late on the 1st July 2015 and early on the 4th July 2015 will go down as two of my more successful and productive storm chases. Quite geeky this but I do actually give all the storm chasers I go on a rating dependent on various different factors such as lightning frequency/intensity, thunder, rate of rainfall, winds, hail, clouds, funnel/tornadoes, flooding etc... both these storms fall in my top 20 from around 100 chases - so not bad going An interesting thing about last nights storm for me is that there were different colours of lightning from orange to pink to white to blue/purple and even some greenish tinted flashes.

What a great night last night and coming at the end of a great week

I have still to check how many lightening bolts my camera saw. I saw 3 but I spent most of the time sheltering in the car whilst my camera sat on top of a gate filming the storm. I could see the bright flashes and hear the thunder but the rain was too heavy to stand outside. My camera is waterproof so okay in the rain. Glad you had a good evening. This last week has been remarkable for storms by UK standards.

What a great evening for storms. I first headed out west to intercept a young cell that had erupted to the west of Birmingham. By the time it passed over me between Uttoxeter and Stafford it was an absolute belter with crazy bright lightning, bolts and gusty winds. I then drove back along the A50 to Derby under frequent flashing, although admittedly it was moving quite quickly to my north. I have just got back to film some flashes as the storm leaves Derby. As I was driving towards Uttoxeter there were branches and leaves on the road, signs of some powerful wind gusts most probably. I also saw a bolt of lightning hit behind the field and a green flash so it must have hit something. Okay, I probably would have seen just as much activity staying at home but the lightning was so much better being out in open fields with very little light pollution and decent views as opposed to being in a house on an estate with only the views of other houses. I should be tired now, but I am still buzzing

I can't.... silly of me to think I could

Ok. I am going to get my head down for an hour and then to "wherever the radar takes me" in about 2 hours.

Indeed it is. The Bournemouth cell has developed a nice core now too.

I think that Bournemouth cell is heading due north and so is set to hit Derby if it survives.

Bournemouth storm is like the kind of thing we watch erupt over the Low Countries, truly remarkable strike rate!

If it is then it will take the exact track predicted by Euro4 - heading towards Lincolnshire but cutting a great swathe through CS England and the East Midlands first. Too far east for me but I would chase it.