Tom Montalbano

Very heavy rain again here in S.E.London, after a lull for 10 minutes or so. I think theres every chance reports of thunder will start coming in as this stuff pushes into E.Anglia. Its happened so many times before when ppn coming up from the south, which has been largely devoid of thunder suddenly intensifies as it heads NE of London and becomes electrified. Good luck in that part of the world, anyway. :lol: Regards, Tom.

Very heavy rain now here in Lee, S.E.London. Regards, Tom. Ppn seems to be intensifying on its eastern edge, as it encounters the hot humid air to its east. Regards, Tom.

No, sorry weather09. You "phoned a friend", who was absolutely clueless! Serves you right for choosing Piers Corbyn. Regards, Tom

Just had a look at latest Meteox predicted 3 hour rainfall sequence and its looking to expand the heavier ppn into E.Sussex, W.Kent and eventually Essex. Looks like E.Kent could take a side swipe later on in the evening. How much thunder will there be though, $64,000 dollar question? Regards, Tom.

Hi Sno'problem, Not surprised you're getting some rain now from that heavy bank of cloud just W/NW of here. Skies brightening a little to south of here as it moves away. Has been really oppressive in the London area today, very unpleasant. Btw Harry, love your description of that area of heavy cloud cover, bruised it was indeed, exactly what I saw to the west of me. Regards, Tom.

Hi Mick, Indeed, looks like a wet walk home for you from Woolwich station. My partners off to Bromley for some late night shopping, told her to leave it until tomorrow but she's determined to get it done tonight. I've told her to stay inside "The Glades" shopping precinct for as long as possible. Regards, Tom.

Hi MAF, jshaw & Harry, Can concur with your obs, looking very dark just west of here, Lee, S.E.London. Some very slight returns on 4.00 Meto radar around the London area. That large pulse of ppn thats moving NNE out of Cherbourg just starting to reach I.O.W/Hants/W.Sussex coast. Regards, Tom.

Looking at the Meteox 3 hour predicted rainfall sequence, it looks like an area of heavy rainfall will run up towards London from the West Sussex coast around early/mid evening, no doubt with embedded thunder. This area looks to continue to move NNE up towards E.Anglia during the rest of the evening and night. Also the line of thundery showers running from Dorset through S.Midlands, into the E.Midlands looks to continue moving NNE towards extreme E.Yorks/Lincs during the rest of the evening. As usual in these situations some areas will see some pretty appreciable rainfall totals, whilst other areas see relatively little. Regards, Tom.

Nearly forgot but anyway here goes. Day 1 = 18c Day 2 = 19c Day 3 = 19c Day 4 = 19c Day 5 = 18c Time lost = 480 minutes. Thanks again to Jackone for all his work and congratulations to Koppite. Regards, Tom.

Thanks for all your work Jackone. Saw your pm re. Open Golf too late, sorry mate. Have been caught up with running Fantasy Open Golf competition for all my colleagues at work. As I'm sure you know it can be really time consuming. Regards, Tom.

2nd Test Lords. Day 1 - 23c Day 2 - 18c Day 3 - 20c Day 4 - 21c Day 5 - 23c Time lost = 430 minutes. Regards, Tom.

Nice idea Jackone. Right lets throw my hat into the ring. Day 1 - 18c Day 2 - 18c Day 3 - 19c Day 4 - 18c Day 5 - 20c Total time lost - 280 mins. Any chance of doing one for the Open golf at Turnberry, Ayrshire from 16th - 19th July. Say predicting again, highest temp, max wind speed and rainfall at nearest recording station. Its a fun way of incorporating 2 of my favourite hobbies, i.e sport and weather. Which no doubt is the same for a lot of us on Netweather. I run a lot of fantasy competitions for our office (I work for a Credit Boookmakers), and a lot of my colleagues are sports fanatics. The competitions are mainly football (World Cups, Euro Championships and Champions League), Golf (US Masters, The Open), Racing (Cheltenham). Just about to run one for The Open Championship at Turnberry. Regards, Tom

A couple of heavy thundery showers observed while at work in Croydon yesterday. The first between 3.15 and 3.45 p.m and another around about 5.45 p.m. Saw a few flashes of lightning with both and a couple of rumbles but could also make out some more grumbling type thunder above the general din of the town. Pretty heavy shower went through earlier, around 12.30/12.45. no thunder though. That one seemed to have turned thundery east of Croydon. The rainfall, especially in the mid-afternoon shower, was notable and came through in squalls and a roaring sound as it pounded ours and surrounding buildings. Regards, Tom.

Fantastic stuff fellas, very, very funny. :lol: Paul perhaps you could come up with something for your failed Thames Streamer, this Feb. just gone. You remember, the one that gave a swathe of South London, N.W.Kent and some parts of Surrey over 6 inches of snow, whilst yourself in good ole Leigh-on-Sea had......what was it and I quote, "little more than a few polystyrene pellets". Sorry mate, no doubt painful memories. I'm sure the Essex coast will get its share of the white stuff if the easterly snow gods decide to look favourably down on your part of the S.E. in the coming years. Regards, Tom.

Intense rainfall and lots of grumbles of thunder at work here in Croydon between 3.15 and 3.45, lost our satellite pictures of racing coverage at one point. Just popped out for my tea-break, some lovely anvils and cloudscapes around here. Regards, Tom.

At work in Croydon(Surrey), some very angry skies around here at the moment. Had quite heavy shower around 40 mins. ago. Would be very surprised if we didnt get thunder today, we might have had some already but probably coulldnt hear above the din of work and general noise in this town. I think its looking good for most of the SE to have a rumble or two during the course of the day and some places might hit the jackpot! Regards, Tom.

First line of showers just arriving here in SE London, with radar showing another band behind. Havn't heard any thunder yet, or seen any lightning for that matter but pretty gusty winds. Regards, Tom.

Re. JHs post, more often than not the most dramatic thundery breakdowns, certainly for London and the SE have tended to come with a fall of pressure over N.France. The models seem to be showing a ridge building towards N.France on Friday, when that scenario has occurred in the past, down here in the SE, the change in the weather can be somewhat benign with a short spell of rain or even just some cloud, then the wind switches to the SW and the weather becomes cooler and less humid. But when the breakdown occurs with a fall of pressure over N.France the transition can be much more dramatic with heavy thundery rain and some quite severe embedded storms before the whole lot moves away into the N.Sea and the fresher weather arrives. It will be interesting to see how the end of the week will pan out. At the moment the models seem to want to show the more dramatic change to be further north and west. Not too long to wait before the picture becomes clearer. Regards, Tom.

Morning all. Harry, how did it go at Windsor last night, back any winners? Didnt quite get your storm there but I'm sure you saw some quite stormy skies drifting away to your NW during the race meeting. That stuff seems to have initiated over the N.Downs S/SW of Croydon mid/late afternoon but only gave slight shower in SW London, the one that clipped Wimbledon. Not sure we'll see anything over this way today but you never know,Londons' heat island effect could kick start something later but if that happens likely to be only W/NW London at risk but a very small risk indeed I would've thought. Regards, Tom.

Here's a view of the Meteox rainfall, cloud and lightning maps further afield. You can see the line of ppn developing towards the Cherbourg Pen. Looks as if it may get as far east as IOW, perhaps. http://www.meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-...;soort=satradar Regards, Tom.

Came out of work in Croydon (Surrey) at 5.30, could see some towering cumulus towards SW, probably Epsom/Banstead way. It looks as if the CZ kicked in around there and allied to lift over the N.Downs sparked a rogue light shower that clipped Wimbledon but nothing like the storms in and around the Birmingham area. Could see the Brum/Wolverhampton storm via TV at work (work for Bookmakers), the 5 p.m. race at Wolverhampton was run in quite a squall and commentators stated that picture break-up was due to adverse weather in that area. Hope Harry has backed a few winners at Windsor, he didnt get his storm their but no doubt would've seen some stormy skies to his NW, stretching off up into the Midlands. Regards, Tom.

Well done Harry. As you state some impressive lightning near here too, (We're just down the road from Blackheath). Cell really seem to intensify just to the east of here towards Kent/London border. As storm moved away was pitch black towards the east, I guess Dartford way. Regards, Tom.

Heavy thundery shower just moved through here in Lee, London, se12. It seems as those cells that were west of london hit this area, the southern most end of the E.Anglian streamer intensified again. Some impressive cracks of thunder and heavy rain. Looking very dark to the west again now. Regards, Tom.

Evening all, Hi KW, amazing cloudscape view from London SE12 of the train of cells over Essex. Have been viewing radar at work of these storms stretching from London to Norfolk. Came through thundery type shower on leaving Croydon at 5.30 and had great view of those storms N.E. of London. Regards, Tom.

Paul, how did you manage to simulate that in a car wash, amazing! No seriously, really incredible footage, well done mate. Helps to lessen the blow of missing out on the Thames Streamer in Feb, eh! That Chris took a chance didnt he. Shut that door! Thanks for all the footage and entertainment on this years Storm Chase and many thanks to all the NW members who took part. Regards, Tom