Lazz

Maybe we should all save our pennies and go storm chasing in the USA

Fog is what we've got in Grantham at the moment lol

Can't help but be curious about these reports of strobe flashing lightning

I hope people are taking photos or videos

Radar is showing lightning strikes not too far from Northampton.

Its not often you see THAT amount of red in a radar image

Knowing that if I see any storms today, they wont happen for at least a few more hours, ideally I should go off and do something constructive, but the truth is that 1. Im too excited and 2. I have nothing better to do

According to TORRO's facebook page, Laval, in France, has just recorded a gust of 76mph from the storm!

The skies in the webcam have since got a lot darker http://www.bognorregisbeach.co.uk/live

I was actually sitting here and I kept hearing seagulls and wondering why on earth they'd be outside my house given I live not too far from Nottingham . Of course narrowing down the origin of the sound to my headphones solved the problem

Thanks for that link. One of the few webcams that is actually a good frame rate and looks good while full screen.

Hi all, Apologies if this isn't the right forum to post this in. I was wondering, how do you explain your hobby to friends, who see storms as nothing more than the sky making a few noises every once in a while? I know that no one ever needs to justify why they like this sort of thing, but I quite like conveying my love and fascination of storms to people, even though sometimes it can be hard to do. A few weeks ago, I was on a train with a friend, and we were talking about storm chasing, and he said: "so let me get this straight. Your idea of a dream holiday, or at least a very good holiday, is to travel to the states, meet up with a bunch of people, travel many many miles in the hope of seeing and being in some of the most intense weather on the planet, with the ultimate goal of seeing a tornado, something which is known to kill people yearly and, lets face it, as much as you would be in good company who are knowledgable about these things, you are at least to some degree, putting your life on the line for this and your willing to pay upwards of £2000 for this experience to happen?" Me: ".....erm........yeah, basically." When a storm is coming over or when I am in one, it ignites something inside of me. An excitement. Its like nothing else in the world matters apart from that present moment in which I can be in awe of mother nature's power. I see it from other people, just not on the same scale. When we're in a storm, people glance out the window and watch it. Its a few minutes of entertainment for them and they enjoy it while it lasts. Once its done, they get back to doing whatever it is they were doing. For me, the effect is massively amplified. When I know a storm is likely to approach, assuming I am at home like today, I will regularly check the netweather forums. Im signed up to the NW Extra radar and regularly check the meteox and blitzortung radars. When I know a storm is approaching where I live, I will put a message out on facebook. I know many people might not be bothered, but given the crap that is posted on FB anyway, I figure if it helps alert even just one or several people to an approaching storm then it makes me feel good. I usually state which direction its coming from incase people want to obeserve it from where they are. Then its on to phase 2. Getting the camera / camcorders out. Taking photos and recording video's, usually the videos are to be made into a timelapse but given the view I have from my place, it can also be used incase anything really interesting happens. I enjoy it while it lasts and feel very satisfied with myself if I get some good lightning shots. Once it seems to be over, I stop recording and transfer the files to my computer. While this is happening, I read the forums and checkout any reports of what is happening elsewhere. If the videos/photo's that I have taken are good enough, I share them. The funny thing about our love for storms, I find, is the 'downer' afterwards. Like a drug that has worn off. Most people love the sunshine after the rain. Back to being great weather again. For me, its a bit of a buzzkill but all good things must come to an end. Once all of the above is said and done, its then back to discussing the events on this forum, damage reports, people's experiences and their own photos and videos, and working out when we are next probably going to get a storm. The root of all things storm related boils down to one thing; my fascination with tornadoes. Since about the age of 7 or 8, I've been captivated by them. Every time there was a program on tv about them, I would get my parents to tape it for me and then watch the tape over and over and over again. Nowadays, I have been known to watch hours of tornado footage on youtube. There is something about a giant whirling mass of wind that goes from the ground to the sky and picks up everything in its path, sometimes growling like a monster, that science doesn't really understand all that well, that I find intruiging. Beautiful yet deadly. So obvious in plain sight, yet so little understood. I used to watch the storm chasers program with Reed Timmer, until the drama/arguments between chasers became akin to an episode of Eastenders. We want to watch it for the severe weather and tornadoes, not the arguing Maybe on second thoughts, the next time someone asks me why it is that I find storms so fascinating, I'll just link them to this thread

Interesting, cause the video is looking west of Grantham in the exact direction and time that Nottingham had the supercell.

Watching my timelapse back, (nothing too interesting I dont think, battery ran out just as the storm kicked off), its funny how clouds move in different directions at different heights. Actually, while I post this, could someone who knows more about weather than me (everyone) tell me how far away those lower clouds in the distance are approximately?

Lightning over Grantham now

The sound of thunder in the distant is becoming as common as the sound of traffic now.

Looks like more storms/heavy rain heading towards Grantham, for the 43rd time today

To think that 12 hours ago, most of us on here started having doubts, figuring 'oh well, its tomorrow when things are meant to really kick off'. Then what followed was 12 hours of mother nature doing putting on one of the best light shows most of us have ever seen

Good morning. Nice to get all of 3 hours sleep *checks radar* Holy shhhhhhhredded wheat. That is a lot of rain and storms.

An updated version of some of the strikes over Grantham

Lots of lightning approaching Grantham now. Lightning every 20 - 30 seconds.

How do you get such great lightning shots? I have a Nikon D5100 and this evening I had it on esposures between 5 seconds and 30 seconds and despite lightning appearing while the shutter was open, I got nothing

The storm went to the west of Grantham and despite me taking 200 pictures with my dslr camera (mostly automatic, set to intervals), they didn't catch a single strike. The lightning appeared while the long exposures were happening but they just didn't appear in the final photo. ......but nevermind, cause I got the chance to use my latest camcorder toy! The location is looking west of Grantham, over towards the nottingham area. The strikes get better as the skies darken: *edit* didn't realise it would actually embed the video. Hope this is ok.

Rumbles in Grantham, coming from a distance. Just hoping my new camcorder picks something up . Though it looks like it might be going west of town.

Nice vantage point