Uk Convective General Discussion & Forecasts, 28th June 2012>

[Gorky]

Well.. the storm s died out less than 10 miles from my house! Gutted... Got some interesting shots from my camera set up pointing west of the convection as it passed to the north. Lots of low scud and a bit of rotation evident but it all passed north of here towards Ravenscar and Whitby :/

[Alex95]

Well I seen the good side of today's weather but also sadly the ugly side as my reletives house got flooded if albeit the damage is thankfully minimal and theres not much outside resisdue in the house however it does maks me think to be a little more cautious wishing for severe weather.

Having said that, what an afternoon it has been, one of the best thundery episodes for a long time but imo not quite up to August 2005 standards, the thundery activity on that day was immense and I have not seen anything like that since but todays event does eclipse on how long this storm lasted, a good 2 hours with a brief lull in the middle.

The thunder and lightning at times was fantastic though if albeit it was quite hard too see the lightning at times due to the immense rainfall but seeing photos/videos on here and all over facebook just showed what an event we experienced. I wonder how TWS is feeling? The curse has followed him to Norwich!

An afternoon that will live long in the memory thats for sure.

August 2005 was great, but the lightning wasn't anywhere near as frequent, not hear at least. I think that event was an actual supercell though, I remember finding a report on it - it became supercellular around the time when it hit the Leeds/Bradford area, then moved NE towards Tyne and Wear. I'll see if I can find it.

In my location at least, today had larger hail and much more lightning, up to a strike every 2-3 seconds in the first cell!

The only convective interest now is that Saturday will see a showery SW flow, with the risk of thundery showers in the E and NE. Obviously nothing like we've seen today, but I've had some nice little displays of CG lightning in those type of flows before.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Alza

[Carl46Wrexham]

Good vids....Nice to get a reminder what a thunderstorm is actually like.

[Alex95]

Good vids....Nice to get a reminder what a thunderstorm is actually like.

At least you don't have to get your name changed!

[Andy_]

28th June 2012 "El Geordieo"

Haha i like that,

Probably won't experience something like that again in the North East for a long time!

Hope no-one is stranded on the wrong side of the river as the Tyne Tunnels are flooded and have been closed

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/523450_4199739356825_130001166_n.jpg

[robt]

Just found this on facebook of the Newcastle storm earlier..

by Andrew Shiel-Redfern

[Kain]

28th June 2012 "El Geordieo"

No it was born and bred in Brum, its El Brumo

Luckly Shearer is in Poland else he would have headed it away

[Geordiesnow]

August 2005 was great, but the lightning wasn't anywhere near as frequent, not hear at least. I think that event was an actual supercell though, I remember finding a report on it - it became supercellular around the time when it hit the Leeds/Bradford area, then moved NE towards Tyne and Wear. I'll see if I can find it.

The storm on that day was spectactular as the lightning was all over the place and how it quickly changed from day to night aswell, this one does rank very close to it and its much better(or worse depending on your POV) in terms of length but I still rank that storm as more severe.

Today we seemed to experience 2 storms, one followed closely behind the other and for once our area were in the firing line for the sting in the tail which consequently caused even more chaos.

In terms of some of the photos I seen, they are really spectacular and I have never seen anything like it.

[James Irwin]

Just found this on facebook of the Newcastle storm earlier..

by Andrew Shiel-Redfern

that is a stunning picture

[Nick F]

Not often have I issued MODERATE risks in my convective forecasts, since I started them back in 2006, but today certainly lived up to expectations of the forecast for large hail and tornadoes (for once!):

http://www.netweathe...onvective;sess=

A round up of today's scenes: http://www.netweathe...ryid=1148;sess=

[Dan the Man]

Interesting video. Doesn't look like a tornado so I would go for the microburst theory.

I agree. Just a large column of air.

I gather UK airports (some of which were in the firing line of this storm) don't have microburst detectors as some locations do in the US?

[Costa Del Fal]

Not often have I issued MODERATE risks in my convective forecasts, since I started them back in 2006, but today certainly lived up to expectations of the forecast for large hail and tornadoes (for once!):

http://www.netweathe...onvective;sess=

A round up of today's scenes: http://www.netweathe...ryid=1148;sess=

I think over Leicestershire, a High risk could have been warranted!? Great forecast anyway! Really stunning day!

Edited June 28, 2012 by Blizzards

[Andy Bown]

We may have had only a few brief sharp showers then a hot sunny day down here, however thank you to everyone who has contributed by sharing

your experiences, thoughts and footage of todays violent storms.

Btw the green colour isn't just the camera playing up, it actually seemed to go that colour. This is a couple of miles from me, but the winds seem non existent here!

Green is a sign of hail.

[I Cumbria Marra I]

I dont think il ever see a storm here like the ones in the NE and the Midlands today tbh there never as severe here as they are in the East

[Dan the Man]

Its been mentioned several times on this thread today - why wasn't there more warning from the BBC/Met Office of such extreme weather.

The ingredients were there - yet there wasn't one mention of the word 'tornado' in any TV forecast. Now I understand you don't want to scare the public, but you should really be upfront with this sort of thing, no? If this was the USA, there would be wall-to-wall coverage - Dr Forbes would be handing out TORCON indices like confetti.

Is there even any sort of protocol for a "tornado warning" rather than just a watch in the UK?

[IanR]

I think North East is becoming the UK captital for storms,I have Mixed feelings about today here,got a torrential thundery shower, but saw no visible lightning, but hey I am in the North West so I should count myself lucky I got something

[spears]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jun/28/insurance-motor-hailstone-damage

"The AA said if all the panels of a car had been peppered by hail, it would be cheaper to replace the entire car than try to smooth out the dents – a process that could distort the roof."

They don't know that a specialist in Paintless Dent Removal can get rid of all of the dents caused by hail without distorting the roof. They do this in Europe, USA etc all of the time to perfect condition (if they are good enough technicians).

If you know of areas effected by hail where there's damaged cars please get in touch. I have a team of leading techs and trying to find leads.

[Costa Del Fal]

As I said last month just after the Oxon supercell, the Met Office's warning system is redundant on days such as today. I've been rather critical of them in the past concerning their forecasts ahead of convective storm risk days, but today I actually felt angry with them.

Golf-ball sized hail, CG lightning, strong convective downdrafts, tornado..... the conditions looked very favourable for this sort of activity several days in advance. I knew it; I'm know quite a few others did too. So that means the Met Office knew. They intentionally withheld crucial information concerning public safety, and for that they might as well not have a warning system at all.

I agree, the potential was there war dangerous conditions and that materialised. Much better for them in view of public safety to issue the warnings and risk getting it wrong than not issue nothing and really risk the public safety. Atrocious effort from them.

[Sainsbo]

Golf-ball sized hail, CG lightning, strong convective downdrafts, tornado..... the conditions looked very favourable for this sort of activity several days in advance. I knew it; I'm know quite a few others did too. So that means the Met Office knew. They intentionally withheld crucial information concerning public safety, and for that they might as well not have a warning system at all.

I totally agree with you, but the models were'nt exactly clear that this was going to pull off. They kept changing, and they didn't all seem to agree on where the worst hit would be, if it hit anywhere. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry, though.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Sainsbo

[Alex95]

I think North East is becoming the UK captital for storms,I have Mixed feelings about today here,got a torrential thundery shower, but saw no visible lightning, but hey I am in the North West so I should count myself lucky I got something

Since 2007 we've had far more than our fair share of snow and thunderstorms! The only problem is we rarely get sustained warm sunny weather. For storms I think the East Midlands would be the best place to live.

[Dan the Man]

This has probably been posted already...

How close is that?!?!

[Alex95]

As I said last month just after the Oxon supercell, the Met Office's warning system is redundant on days such as today. I've been rather critical of them in the past concerning their forecasts ahead of convective storm risk days, but today I actually felt angry with them.

Golf-ball sized hail, CG lightning, strong convective downdrafts, tornado..... the conditions looked very favourable for this sort of activity several days in advance. I knew it; I'm know quite a few others did too. So that means the Met Office knew. They intentionally withheld crucial information concerning public safety, and for that they might as well not have a warning system at all.

It's more annoying to think that they are paid tax payer's money. I wonder how useful they actually are, other than for planning a picnic?

Having said that, Carol Kirkwood this morning warned of severe thunderstorms in Northern England and the Midlands, and said no storms for the SE. This was in conflict with the GFS and she was right (presumably on Met Office predictions).

Edited June 28, 2012 by Alza

[Dan the Man]

I agree, the potential was there war dangerous conditions and that materialised. Much better for them in view of public safety to issue the warnings and risk getting it wrong than not issue nothing and really risk the public safety. Atrocious effort from them.

The thing is though - what do you expect Joe Public to do?

I went to Atlanta last year during the horrendous tornado outbreak across the Deep South - had to ask an American friend, what the hell do you do if a tornado warning is issued. Luckily nothing serious materialised in my area apart from a few severe thunderstorms, however locations I travelled to the next day certainly did.

We, rightly, aren't prepared for such an occurance. Today was probably a Q50 event.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Dan the Man

[Thundery wintry showers]

Well I seen the good side of today's weather but also sadly the ugly side as my reletives house got flooded if albeit the damage is thankfully minimal and theres not much outside resisdue in the house however it does maks me think to be a little more cautious wishing for severe weather.

Having said that, what an afternoon it has been, one of the best thundery episodes for a long time but imo not quite up to August 2005 standards, the thundery activity on that day was immense and I have not seen anything like that since but todays event does eclipse on how long this storm lasted, a good 2 hours with a brief lull in the middle.

The thunder and lightning at times was fantastic though if albeit it was quite hard too see the lightning at times due to the immense rainfall but seeing photos/videos on here and all over facebook just showed what an event we experienced. I wonder how TWS is feeling? The curse has followed him to Norwich!

An afternoon that will live long in the memory thats for sure.

Aye- I completed the move from Cleadon to Sandhutton near Thirsk on the 23rd June, following a brief trip to Norwich, and Sod's law of course threw up the thunderstorm of the century so far in Cleadon, while I was away- lol! Will have to download footage of it from Youtube to at least get some idea of it.

Sandhutton did catch the southern edge of the line of thunderstorms, so there were some rumbles of thunder and some impressive cloud formations, but of course not on the scale of what happened in the North East.

[Ross B]

This video is pretty cool and is going a bit crazy on Facebook!