Dom W

Has anyone noticed those showers / storms over the north sea heading north?

I would love to have that over me, would give my seeds a good drink

Seafret came in and has since broken up to allow the sun through again

Looks like the sea fret is rolling back in here

Off topic, just look at that Sea Fog in the North Sea.

Some cumulus towers over the North Sea, sky looks rather hazy in places too. I love in Shotton near Peterlee. Any ides of storm potential here? I need some water for my newly planted seeds, lol

According to a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterspout

Had a couple of flashes of lightning in the last hour south of Peterlee.

Maybe it was a mixture of rising air from the North Sea, the cold northerly wind and some influence from the snow shower itself, all mixing to cause the vortex. Any other theories?

I had taken a lift to my class today and the road takes me past the coast with great views of the sea, including Sunderland to the north and Teeside to the south. When I got near to Seaham in County Durham, I saw a snow shower over the sea, it was very heavy and from the back edge of the shower in a clear zone under the cloud I saw a funnel taking shape, I commented on it to the others in the car. I looked towards the area of the funnel and saw a rotating swirl of spray; clearly a waterspout. This happened around 1.30 this afternoon (16th December 2010)

What is up with the ITV website, including the ITV Weather website? Plus I think the ITV Weather needs a bit of a facelift, any news on this?

Frost and Rime Ice form under different conditions: Frost - Forms directly from the air in other words it changes directly from a vapour to solid, skipping the liquid phase Rime - Forms when supercooled water droplets in a low cloud, fog or mist contact the very cold surface and freeze on impact; if there is a breeze or a wind it can cause the ice to build up

There are two types of Rime Ice: Hard Rime - link Soft Rime - link Hard rime is a white ice that forms when the water droplets in fog freeze to the outer surfaces of objects. It is often seen on trees atop mountains and ridges in winter, when low-hanging clouds cause freezing fog. This fog freezes to the windward (wind-facing) side of tree branches, buildings, or any other solid objects, usually with high wind velocities and air temperatures between −2 °C (28 °F) and −8 °C (18 °F). Soft rime is a white ice deposition that forms when the water droplets in light freezing fog or mist freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, with calm or light wind. The fog freezes usually to the windward side of tree branches, wires, or any other solid objects. Soft rime is similar in appearance to hoar frost; but whereas rime is formed by vapour first condensing to liquid droplets (of fog, mist or cloud) and then attaching to a surface, hoar frost is formed by direct deposition from water vapour to solid ice. A heavy coating of hoar frost, called white frost, is very similar in appearance to soft rime, but the formation process is different: it happens when there is no fog, but very high levels of air relative humidity (above 90%) and temperatures below -8 °C (18 °F).

Just had a lightning flash within the last few minutes

http://www.meteox.com/h.aspx?r=&jaar=-3&soort=lightning Good indicator of any lightning going on

Snow very heavy in Peterlee, expecting the odd flash of lightning any minute

Hi there, can you please report any instance of thunder / lightning during any snow showers; be good to know how much of this we get during this big freeze

Got a large smooth based cloud moving over Peterlee now coming from the south rather the south east like the last few hours.

Got a large smooth based cloud moving over Peterlee now coming from the south rather the south east like the last few hours.

Over Peterlee, the clouds are seemingly coming in from the southeast (we had some Sea Fret but that has gone thankfully)

Dark skies and heavy showers over Peterlee, had no thunder yet though.

Raining here in Peterlee, fairly large drops. Very humid still.