Storms and Convective discussion - May 2024

[dryfie]

What’s the connection between this and Don McLean?

 

[Sprites]

 dryfie Castles in the air 

[Dami]

gutted from Bedford. lol

Glad you guys had a fun night!

[wimblettben]

Anyone know if there is a storm nearby my location as I have been hearing rumbles for the last 10 or so minutes but don’t know where it’s coming from as it’s soo cloudy with even areas of mist completely blocking any possibility of seeing anything.

[Purplepixii]

Well that was a banging night, woke me up! Amazing thunder & lightning, must be the loudest storm I've ever heard. Bring on more please! 

[Summer tyre]

@wimblettbenThere's a cell building just off Aberaeron which may be responsible?

Edited May 2 by Summer tyre

[Wade]

A few very light showers near my location and a decent electrical storm in Wales but other than that nothing is really happening, let's see how things develop throughout the rest of the afternoon

[wimblettben]

 Summer tyre It sounds like the rumbles are coming from East or Northeast of my location.

Sounds like it has eased a little in the last few minutes though.

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

As the number of flashes people estimated last night seems to keep growing, I’m going to officially update my guess to approximately 1,000,005

(the last 5 were once I got home)

 

 

in all seriousness though I would say my first guess was wrong. There were at least 10 per minute at the very lowest end of the scale, and up to probably quite easily 50 at peak intensity.

with some rudimentary maths: the storm lasted 3 hours(ish). So 60 x 3 is 180 minutes of action overall.

an average of about 30 fpm (flashes per minute) 30 x 180 = 5400.

I’m going to add another 600 to account for the quite exceptional duration of the peak intensity (and that there were multiple bouts of activity) and round it off to 6000.

I think the poster who claimed well over 100,000 might need to check the filament in their bedroom striplight

[wimblettben]

Well after the two very faint distant flashes to the Southeast and East last night and then the rumbles to the East or Northeast this afternoon I am hoping that the potential carries on into tonight as at least I will have a higher chance of seeing something what with all this cloud and mist around at the moment.

There is just not a chance in hell of seeing anything with conditions like this during daylight hours.

[dryfie]

 Sprites Yes, too easy.  Surprised for this far north.

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

Some shots. In fact the only really shareable ones. Photo 3 was one of a handful of visible bolts throughout the whole event but this particular one struck probably somewhere within a mile of my position and around 1 second after this photo a huge shotgun boom cracked out. It was scary ish but it was also amazing.

 

edit: the video doesn’t show all the flashes. There were so many instantaneous elevated ones (of the flickering variety) but the camera just doesn’t pick them up

Edited May 2 by Flash bang flash bang etc

[wimblettben]

Guess that’s it for now then as haven’t heard anything in the last hour or so.

[Josh Rubio]

The radar looks very uninspiring at the moment. 

[Cain]

Some showers around I see glad I didn’t stay awake last night as nothing hit us in wales unfortunately well my location any ways seem to be a decent show for a lot of others though 

[Summer tyre]

@Flash bang flash bang etc (GREAT handle) there was a LOT of activity. I had a great view from the house (we are one street back from the sea) and the number of flashes for the two hours was stunning. I posted a brief clip (83 seconds) earlier, and I tried to count the flashes. I think it is 63. That's 1.3 a second and for the 75 minutes I was recording that was pretty much sustained. That's 5928 - not far off your estimate, but that's just my area - you suggested the storm lasted 3 hours so that is over 14,000. I did notice that I saw more flashes than seemed to be being recorded officially; Jo Farrow says that there were 8100 or so.

@wimblettben - your activity has drifted over to Ireland.

[CoventryWeather]

 Josh Rubio humid day here, albeit rather overcast. 

Some showers around Corby from the mid levels. Not expecting a whole lot until after 4, most models have storms by 5. 

Edited May 2 by CoventryWeather

[pinball wizard]

Fully expecting the radar to spring to life in the next 90 mins over east Anglia 

[Wade]

A cell has developed south west of me, hopefully things kick off around my parts soon

[ThomasD27]

My weather station and a few others nearby are getting temperatures of 21°c, dewpoints in around 14-15°c. Could this have any implications on storms further up north? I noticed most models giving dewpoints of   9-12° round here, and the temperatures were underdone aswell.

Edited May 2 by ThomasD27

[Martz86]

Things are kicking off on the near continent, are we expecting those to move over here or are the storms forcast for today/tomorrow mainly going to be homegrown? Driving to France early tomorrow morning, so might see some action there also. LeeRoyxD  LeeRoyxD

[Arnie Pie]

Cells just building to the East may be of interest to the West Midlands later on this afternoon

[Summer tyre]

A cell has ignited just north of Cologne, almost exactly where the storm started that ran along the Thames estuary yesterday, and is starting to move in the same direction as yesterday's.

[Dangerous55019]

Flintshire Weather Report…

There’s a notable ESE breeze blowing… The sky is hazy/milky… But if you’re in the direct sun, it does feel noticeably warm! … At a guess 21/22° Celsius.

I’ve got some exceptionally weak and fluffy convection going on to my north (see first picture)… 
 

To be honest, this still could go either way. The temperature in the sun feels like it could do something… But the clouds to my north… I dunno…  

Time will tell.

[Rush2019]

 Dangerous55019  Yes milky skies here too, Had signs of instability to my SW.  Its all about where the boundary is, where this cooler air coming up from the SW is going to meet the warm air we have been enjoying today, could be enough to trigger the fireworks.