2010 Convective Storm Wishes/wish List

[Harry]

Id say in the UK, its probably Mid april.

April showers can bring some great convective storms.

However the big stuff "Normally" happens between end of may -> end of august.

The last few years we've had imported thunderstorms across Kent and into Essex in April, though quite often they start decaying due to the coldness of the Channel. Still make decent viewing though - I mention those as they are by far my favourite setups

[Thundery wintry showers]

I think NL touched upon it in one of the adjacent threads to this- last year's much maligned July was a fantastic month for convection in parts of eastern England and northern Scotland, and this included both Norwich and Tyne & Wear. At Cleadon, thunder occurred on 7 days which is as much as you would normally expect there in a whole year. 7 thunder-days too in Norwich, which while not as exceptionally high for the relatively thunder-prone East Anglia, was also well above average.

In the North East region it was probably the most thundery of any month since June 1980.

I wouldn't specifically wish for a pattern similar to July 2009 (too Atlantic dominated, too dull and wet in the west) but it's worth noting that it wasn't just a bog-standard westerly month nationwide.

[Nick F]

As I am unfortunately not going to the USA this May to seek severe storms, I am hoping that 2010 can muster some good Spanish Plume storms here, though they will never be on the scale of the Plains monsters . The weather patterns haven't been very conducive over the last 3-4 summers, with the tendency for warm moist plumes from the south ending up shunted too far east over the near continent due to an active Atlantic.

Ideally we need a meridional upper flow pattern , with a trough stalling over E Atlantic and low over Biscay pumping warm moist air up from SW and S Europe, with this pattern being stagnant rather than moving through too quickly. Given SW and S Europe has had a rather wet winter, due to the southerly tracking jets, moisture should be plentiful off the Spanish Plateau should we source hot air from that direction. Then ideally we need a strong jet aloft with winds backed towards the surface, and with a supply of warm moist air we can get those storms that produce big hail and tornadoes! Wishful thinking ...

A classic showery April with those crisp skies and bright white cumulonimbus clouds giving hail, thunder and gusty winds would be a good start to the season, though need to tap those fingers for a while yet ...

[Alex95]

I think NL touched upon it in one of the adjacent threads to this- last year's much maligned July was a fantastic month for convection in parts of eastern England and northern Scotland, and this included both Norwich and Tyne & Wear. At Cleadon, thunder occurred on 7 days which is as much as you would normally expect there in a whole year. 7 thunder-days too in Norwich, which while not as exceptionally high for the relatively thunder-prone East Anglia, was also well above average.

In the North East region it was probably the most thundery of any month since June 1980.

I wouldn't specifically wish for a pattern similar to July 2009 (too Atlantic dominated, too dull and wet in the west) but it's worth noting that it wasn't just a bog-standard westerly month nationwide.

July 2009 was a great month for storms up here like you say, I remember a particularly strong one on the 1st, and again on the 6th with weaker storms on the 3rd and 5th. The problem was there was loads of storms up here during the first half, but the second half was cool and wet as far as I can remember, I went to the Lakes for a week last summer which coincided with a cool and wet spell so my memory of last summer was tarnished by that. However, July 2008 is hot and sunny month in my mind thanks to the hot end, which coincided with me being in the Lakes then. Overall July 2009 was a better month, but the timing of weather events in July 2008 was better.

In both August 2008 and 2009, I went to the continent and had a heatwave both times with severe storms, so I've ended up with 2 reasonably good summers

I hope this year will see setups in June and July not too dissimilar to 2003, some hot spells mixed with some cooler spells so its more interesting, along with some thunderstorms. Then August can do what it likes but I want a convective August in the Alps since I'm there for more than half the month

[kold weather]

As I am unfortunately not going to the USA this May to seek severe storms, I am hoping that 2010 can muster some good Spanish Plume storms here, though they will never be on the scale of the Plains monsters .

The good ole Spanish plumes, not bad features and they tend to look very impressive on Sat.imagery, I love those real long threads which follow them right upto landfall, usually deep in the night time!

The only real problem with them is they tend to be elevated in nature, still even then they give some very neat lightning displays.

[MP-R]

I know it's not the norm, but talking about when the storm season starts, March 2003 and 2005 had some early surprises. Some good convection was on the go on the 1st March 2003 with thunder and impressive hail and then again on 7th March after nightfall with a blustery thunderstorm passing over here. Then 23rd March 2005 was good after a warmish day with highs of 15C and sunshine, some light thunderstorms moved up overnight - yes overnight!

This year however, I wouldn't mind a June like last year, a July with the same sort of weather patterns as April last year i.e. a warm sunny start, then warm and unsettled with plenty of heavy showers, a plume or two midmonth, high pressure third week then back to bright but unsettled with convection again. I don't need it hot just with plenty of convective opportunities. I remember we had some monumental rain on the afternoon of 10th June last year but the temperature did not hit 20C so just shows it doesn't have to be warm to see good convective days in summer .

Of course, 24th and 28th June 2005 come to mind.

[kold weather]

I wouldn't mind a powerful MCS blowing up over my head again like it did in July 2004, quite an amazing development that one!

[Thundery wintry showers]

July 2009 was a great month for storms up here like you say, I remember a particularly strong one on the 1st, and again on the 6th with weaker storms on the 3rd and 5th. The problem was there was loads of storms up here during the first half, but the second half was cool and wet as far as I can remember

...

I hope this year will see setups in June and July not too dissimilar to 2003, some hot spells mixed with some cooler spells so its more interesting, along with some thunderstorms.

I don't think June 2003 was all that varied temperature wise, I remember it for consistent but unexceptional warmth. However, I certainly agree that it had a lot of exciting weather- indeed it was pretty ideal in my book with the unsettled spells having an emphasis on convective rainfall, and settled spells tending to be sunny. I recall the North East getting hit by big thunderstorms on the 17th, and again on my birthday (the 22nd) following an annoying (and wrong!) BBC forecast which had said that "hopefully" the North East would miss out on them.

I recall that the 1st-21st July 2003 continued in a similar vein but remember the 22nd onwards for a lot of disappointingly cloudy tropical maritime type weather.

As I am unfortunately not going to the USA this May to seek severe storms, I am hoping that 2010 can muster some good Spanish Plume storms here, though they will never be on the scale of the Plains monsters . The weather patterns haven't been very conducive over the last 3-4 summers, with the tendency for warm moist plumes from the south ending up shunted too far east over the near continent due to an active Atlantic.

Ideally we need a meridional upper flow pattern , with a trough stalling over E Atlantic and low over Biscay pumping warm moist air up from SW and S Europe, with this pattern being stagnant rather than moving through too quickly. Given SW and S Europe has had a rather wet winter, due to the southerly tracking jets, moisture should be plentiful off the Spanish Plateau should we source hot air from that direction. Then ideally we need a strong jet aloft with winds backed towards the surface, and with a supply of warm moist air we can get those storms that produce big hail and tornadoes! Wishful thinking ...

Sounds like a cross between June 2003 and July 2006, with the high to the east and low to the west being in between their prevailing positions in those two months. It would certainly provide a huge amount of convection over the British Isles!

A classic showery April with those crisp skies and bright white cumulonimbus clouds giving hail, thunder and gusty winds would be a good start to the season, though need to tap those fingers for a while yet ...

I think the first half of April 2008 was pretty ideal for this, at least here in Norwich- I remember a warm, if cloudy, start, and then a big switch-around to the snow on the 6th, but what isn't often remembered is the long run of "sunshine and showers" type days from the 6th to 16th inclusive with convective cells sprouting up on every day. There was thunder on three days in Norwich during that spell, including a monster hailstorm on one of the days.

The April switch-around that I remember most fondly is this one:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1995/Rrea00119950414.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/1995/Rrea00119950419.gif

I remember a warm sunny day on the Good Friday in Tyneside, with a high of 18C, and then on the following Tuesday there were snow showers and I vividly remember the very big cumulonimbus cells in some of the showers. On that occasion, though, the showery regime lasted only four days, but on the Thursday 20th April Cleadon was hit by repeated heavy hailstorms, one of which delivered an inch of hail cover, similar to the Norwich one in April 2008. It's hard to beat a polar/arctic maritime W/NW'ly for convection in eastern England at that time of year IMHO.

[Joey.G]

mmm still sultry summer evenings when it doesnt seem to get any cooler, and the very first clouds of the day appear hinting at a great night in store. So much more exciting than Christmas ever was I think! :o

I'd like to get my first real photo of lightning so bring on the night time imports! Chasing may just be the one thing I need a car for, so ill have to get one in the summer. Shame because I actually quite like cycling instead...

[Marcus_surfer]

Another summer of 2003 but with more thunderstorms

[RichardR]

Something like 29th September 2006 (fantastic month) when I was in Lincolnshire. A fairly small but long lived band of intense and tornadic thunderstorms swept from Wiltshire/Oxfordshire through to Lincolnshire and the North Sea, passed Lincoln around 1:00PM with very dark skies and the kind of anvil that extends a good number of miles ahead of the storm.

There was bright blue flickery CG lightning, extremely loud thunder, heaviest rain I've seen in years, two tornadoes (didn't see one though) and the most amazing storm structure (from the rear) I've seen apart from photographs and I DIDN'T TAKE A BLOODY PICTURE!!! AARRG.

Edited April 26, 2010 by RichardR

[Mesoscale]

What i wish for!!!!!!

in june i want severeal days of severe spanish plume thunderstorms to sweep up from france from about 2pm till 3am (I want to slepp you know) and just dominate with constant lightning, loud thunder and possible tornadoes strong long track ones!

during july i hope there to be some storms in cancun mexico as im going there!

and august i want it to just go crazy like june!

I want to be generally scared for my life but nothing happenes to anyone!

I want the bbc weather to say that its an emergency and that we should jump into are baths!! lol

Edited April 27, 2010 by Mesodiscussion

[Thundery wintry showers]

Aye, I think the best of all worlds would be something like the tornado Tyne and Wear had on my 15th birthday (!) , 22nd June 1999- it was spectacular to watch but only briefly touched the ground and caused very little damage.