UKSupercell

Problem is, (and I’m no expert) but it seems that there’s plenty of CAPE but a lack of lift or some form of trigger mechanism. Some of the towers round here went up high and so quickly, but you can see them peter out and fade. They don’t evolve to proper Cb Incus anvils. Saw some Pileus caps form but still. Here’s what I mean with one looking N. This was about half hour ago or so.

EXPLOSIVE CONVECTION all around me in S Bucks now. Towers to E and N especially.

Anyone from the SE/London area/home counties heading NW today chasing??

Current weather in S Bucks: 32.6 Celsius 43% humidity It is about 1 degree hotter, earlier, than yesterday, and slightly more humid. Oppressive.

Given I have my car back from it's annual service and a new-found RAC membership (after the events of Monday night!) I am half tempted to chase today. Am I right in saying that again, the best place appears to be the west mids into Wales?

FINALLY!!!! A thunderstorm pretty much right overhead here in south Bucks. Been sitting by the back window upstairs looking S and E and must have seen a few dozen flashes including some pretty close ones, and the garden has had its first heavy drink in a while. Given I’d spent between 6:30ish and 9pm watching storms bypass the Chalfonts area both W and E (Wycombe cell and then W London cell) I could see towers building everywhere about 9ish and I was sure something was gonna arrive. Well it did! Nothing spectacular by any means but if I was at mine in East Hants I’ve had seen nothing at all! I hope this is a sign of things to come for those even further south.

Lots of loud booming thunder to my East from W London cell. Well a bit crap the storm shield is in place and I’ve seen storms to W and E tonight but better than nothing. At least us southerners are getting sumin!

Woah just seen my first flash this eve!!! W London cell. God you won’t hear me say this often as I work in forestry and love trees but I wish neighbours would cut these blessed ash trees down (in some respects). They’re blocking these storms to the East, and they have ash dieback disease anyway!

West London cell is towering high!!! Explosive convection. Can here the rumbles. Attached.

Bye bye Wycombe cell

Now exploding to my E

Wycombe cell half hour ago approx

Wycombe cell was tame! Well, I wasn’t under it but as expected it seems to have dissipated pretty quickly. Heard about 10-15 rumbles in distance, some quite loud and took some photos while it passed. Just getting some shot of it’s anvil as it moves further away. Another big cumulus towering up to my SE now. What a surprise.....both cells have passed by the storm shield of Seer Green and Beaconsfield! One to the W and one to the E! I think I’m being teased for the main event, which will be tonight, tomorrow or Thurs.

Wycombe cell is just to my west right now, heard several rumbles! No proper action as of yet. Think its going to pass me by

A lot of scattered cumulus here in S Bucks in fact one cell growing quite well to my south. CAPE levels here on Metcheck around 1,000 mark hitting towards 1,600 around 7pm. I was expecting late explosive development again like 7pmish yesterday.

Temp now 31.9 Celsius, with 34% humidity here in S Bucks.

Currently 31.0 Celsius and 37% humidity here in semi-rural S Bucks.

WOAH!!!! Just got back from a frankly unbelievable and emotional storm chase to the Welsh borders just W of Stoke! Never seen anything like it before. My evening went like this: Being lastminute.com and calling off an earlier chase at 4pm while currently positioned in South Bucks, like some of the other resident southerners here, I observed the explosive convection in the home counties around 7pm, so finally got myself in gear and left the house shortly after. Destination Cannock (to start with.) I got in my Mum's Renault Scenic (which she kindly insured me on for a week while she's away, as my Jeep is with my local garage due its annual service tomorrow) and hit the road North-West. 15 minutes later my journey descended into total despair. After moving from Bucks to East Hants early this year, and commuting the Highway to Hell (M25) daily for over two years from the Chilterns down to Farnham, Surrey, I am accustomed to always heading south from Beaconsfield onto the M40-M25. Habit. A short while after doing this earlier I realised I was not on the M40 N bound but going towards Heathrow etc. Bugger. So kicking myself, I got onto the M1 northbound with a huge anvil moving too far to the NW of me, sure I was going to miss everything. Oh, I was going to miss everything. It was only a few miles south of Luton that my Mum's French engineering masterclass (apologies if you're a Renault driver) decided to develop a violently-juddering gas pedal and an amber "ESC" warning light when trying to overtake some sodding Suzuki dithering at 65 in the middle lane. Well, I thought I wouldn't take my chances and pulled onto the hard shoulder and then into the new "rescue me bay." For the first time in my life I used an SOS highways phone and then rang the RAC. Ah, if only I'd renewed my membership for a measly £70 four months ago! They were on their way with a 12 month PAYG membership and call-out charge of £150.....oh the joy! Just over one hour later, the RAC dude turned up and diagnosed an injector problem. They're going and need replacing. That'll be about £300 he reckons. Over to you Mum. We then drove into the delightful town of Luton, he drove around the block, we had a natter about cars and I drove all the way back to south Bucks (only 40 minutes but if you're doing 60mph in fourth gear purposefully, it sure seems longer!) Basically, the car started juddering/misfiring in low revs. Not ideal. For a car that's done only 40K, not impressed! Either way, I got home safely around midnight, had some dinner and cracked open a beer. Glad I'm picking up my Jeep tomorrow. It's done 110k, creaks, has had a squawking clutch noise for 40k miles and a slow leaking water-pump, but I've done two tours of Scotland along with the Lake District twice and it never failed me. Not to mention a foot of snow in Dec. 2017 and the numerous times I've covered it in thick mud on off-road courses and down forest tracks. Ok I'm waffling now. But the moral of the story is this: Don't storm-chase in a Renault Scenic and renew your breakdown cover when it bloody expires! I saw things erupted again in N Wales and into NW England tonight. My parents are up in the Lakes, talk about sod's law! Hope everyone out west and up north enjoyed tonight and fingers crossed for the newly-proclaimed South-East desert!

Damn it I had an inkling these would fire up after 6pm. I'm gonna hit the road north from S Bucks. This cell literally just to my north now is exploding.

Literally exploded here.....two photos taken on Iphone SE and the zoom with my old Canon DSLR

WOAH!!!!! CAP has been breached here I believe! Towers going up to my east and north in South Bucks, out of bloody nowhere. Was about to mow the lawn but not sure now. Will post photos.

Sounds like you've organised well to be honest, fair play mate. Ha ha may as well rinse Rishi's dishis for all their worth!

You must know more than me as I have to ask, how come? I thought surface-based storms were potentially more powerful than elevated storms, and were more likely to contain strong updraughts and rotation to potentially spawn tornadoes? Is this something to do with our friend the English channel killing off any surface-based storms?!

Some cells popping up in Northern France now. Lively one to the West of Rennes in NW France. Strikes from that. Worth keeping an eye on.

Make the most of it I guess! I haven't left and at present I'm not gonna. I nearly left at 4pm but the Cambridge cell didn't look that promising so think I'll stay home. A shame because I packed all my stuff together but it is what it is. Maybe in an hour or two things will get going and you'll be sorted and I'll be full of regrets haha