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Tamsin

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    Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Supacell said:

    In hindsight I probably travelled further than I needed to last night, but was it worth it?

    Initially I had headed down the M1 to the M25 with the idea to head east. With little consistency on the models I didn't really have a plan, although I was favouring somewhere like Essex or Kent. I therefore headed east and through the Dartford tunnel, by which time the Channel had come alive with sferics. The problem was, 90% of those sferics were in the mid Channel and I was headed towards the Eastern Channel.

    So I decided I was going to abandon the idea of Kent and headed westwards on the M25 with a new target of somewhere near Brighton. As I approached a sudden increase of lightning occurred to my northwest. A storm had broken out but as it was heading north it was moving away from me so I continued to the coast, eventually deciding on Worthing to be my target. The lightning detectors were showing an immense amount of lightning heading in there.

    As I arrived in Worthing I could see frequent flashes of lightning, but it took frustratingly long to reach the coast. Although in reality it was only about 5 minutes but I wanted to get there. When I did I got out of my car to a display of strobe lightning over the sea and a constant roar of thunder. I don't remember seeing such frequent lightning in the UK (maybe back on the storm of 17-18th July 2017). I saw no CGs at all, which was a little disappointing, but the spectacle of the constant lightning and thunder felt quite exciting.

    I had just arrived in time to see the storm approach and when it did it arrived quickly. A sudden torrent of rain and gusty winds turned the shelter I was using into a wet wind tunnel. It was hard finding a place to film where I wasn't being blasted as if I was actually out to sea in a storm! I was not the only one sheltering there. A few people had gathered taking photos and watching the spectacle. I wonder if any of them are reading this 😉. Either way, we were all getting wet under the shelter.

    I am unsure how long it lasted but it did not take long for everywhere to become under water. I decided there was no point standing in the rain any longer and so ran back to the car. Unfortunately I wrecked my trainers as I had no choice but to paddle in ankle deep water.

    From this point on I chased the storm, but I never caught it up again. Further storms were developing to the north but were all moving away from me at a rate I couldn't keep up with. The lightning frequency seemed to drop off,  but occasionally there was a burst of more frequent distant lightning. Either way though, the storms were moving faster than me driving on very wet or flooded roads.

    So was it worth it. I saw a biblical downpour of rain accompanied by gale force gusts of wind and arguably the most frequent lightning of my storm chase career. But I drove a long way and the chase back proved unsuccessful, the storms I was chasing were moving too fast. Well in hindsight, I don't regret the drive. I think it was worth it.  A good 'potential' end to the 2023 storm chase season for me 🙂

    I think you made the correct call by heading to the south coast as over the last few years, that's been where the action has seemed to be before decaying inland.  On this occasion we got the classic southern plume event that for once didn't collapse over land but how were you to know?

    Despite being stuck at work in Croydon I probably copped the same storm that you were chasing.  The continuous thunder was very satisfying indeed.  It was nice to actually be able to point my phone at the sky and not have to wait for flashes. Ultimately I feel like 2023 has redeemed itself for me. 

    • Like 2

    Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Freeze said:

    Does anyone know why storms only seem to strike the south coast at night? I know  it's to do with Framnce daytime heated storms drifting north, but why is it so difficult to get a storm during daylight hours, it seems a rare event, I only seem to remember storms when it's dark.

    I would guess that it's because they're most likely to form in the afternoon in France and take time to blow north.  The North Sea probably wonders the same thing about our homegrown storms

    • Like 1

    Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    17 minutes ago, Azazel said:

    Watching the radar animation is quite fascinating. You can see the squall physically break up as it approaches Andover. Today has been unforgettable. I will always remember where I was when the sky went a slightly darker shade of grey for a few minutes. 
     

    Can’t wait for tonight and round two!

    To be fair, I was looking at the UKv and saw that the wind that was traveling east to west was forecast to die of by now.  The wind was only offshore anyhow and presumably that was what was holding this squall together.  Round two it is 

    Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, Flash bang flash bang etc said:

    I’m actually quite cagey about elevated storms that occur before teatime, if the light is bright enough you’ll see structure but struggle to catch anything electrical. Recalling a storm near Alton a few years back where there was one constant rumble for about 2 hours and I saw absolutely no lightning at all. Was an experience but not worth the time, fuel and effort really.

    mind you that day was the day I was in the vicinity of a positive strike which actually set the floor on fire - so that was cool 😃

    I know what you mean.  On two occasions now I've been under a storm with frequent lightning and not seen a bolt or heard anything more than rumbling.  The most recent was June 25 this year near Bridlington (yes I drove that far).  Wasn't even worth uploading the video.  The discrete cell in Stoke yesterday on the other hand would have been more to my taste though.  My mum described its thunder as "disturbing".  Such quality wasted on her!

    • Like 1

    No storms Club 2023

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted · Edited by Tamsin

    It looks the 2023 convective grand finale is going to happen in the north tomorrow.  It may have looked like the Southeast got plenty of action from a precip map but on the ground it has been very isolated down here.  The other problem is journey times in the Southeast: A storm on the opposite side of London for example is 90 mins away and that is the equivalent to Leeds-Liverpool timewise - things are different than how they appear.

    Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

    in Storms & Severe Weather

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, StormLoser said:

    Having crawled out of hospital after a bout of pneumonia (storm watching going well this year, isn't it?) I'm frowning over our Met Office's rather bland yellow-egg-flambe plastered with hardly a care over the centre of the UK.

    Saturday GFS and Estofex seem happier with a western-oriented breakdown over north Wales and then into a wider area.

    I'm not going to hold my breath for tomorrow (probably best not to, after recent circumstances) so for those of you who see some action, enjoy!

    I'm sorry to hear about that.  I hope you recover quickly and get an electrical remedy on your doorstep 

    • Like 1
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