Uk General Convective Discussion & Forecasts, 24th August '12>

[Costa Del Fal]

Picture Time!

(This was the Huge Ludlow Cell!)

Edited August 25, 2012 by Blizzards

[Neilsouth]

Another poor day for storms in kent, turning out to be the worst year so far! with NO imports either

[dapick2002]

probably our last storm of the day after nearly 8 hours of constant storms. all pictures are of the last strike of the day unless we catch any of the dying storms.....very very impressive storms today. unbelievable!

[80sWeather]

Some good storms across the Fens today,pics taken in Manea just north of Ely. Edited August 25, 2012 by 80sWeather

[The PIT]

Only Thundery showers here and had to listen to storms elsewhere. Grrrrrr. However it has given me a chance to beat the 2007 wet summer total. If Monday turns out wet it's going to be close.

Edited August 25, 2012 by The PIT

[Robbie Garrett]

Unbelievable weather through Regent Street today. Torrential rain, I counted 5 different storm cells passing through today. That's a lot in one day, all very intense with booming thunder.

Shame as usual I am at work when it all kicks off... pffft!! Now all we need is a late-Summer/September MCS, remember those ones Harry/Lauren/Coast???? The ones that used to just keep on going throughout Autumn.

This has been the best year for storms in about 6 years, I'm on 20 thunderstorms in the UK now. 18 of those through London.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Robbie Garrett

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

Oooshh night time lightning xD

[The PIT]

Interesting how the main activities of heavier rain have split as the system moves away north east. North midlands should get some heavy rain while south yoorkshire has light rain and a mild night.

[Snowshine]

It's been another cracker of a day for storms, thanks to all for taking part in this thread and uploading all the reports, pics and video

Still a few storms ongoing, but here's the lightning map from today - focused on the main area of England and Wales

Is that a premium feature?

[Chris W]

Our first action of any kind - a short but intense downpour just now following an evening of gusty winds.

It must have been quite some day in Cambridgeshire and the East Midlands in particular from the map Paul posted, to say the least!

[Staffordshire]

Preety rubbish day here, apart from one thundery shower which barely reached modeate rain rate.

[TEITS]

Just want to share something with you which I only discovered today about windows live movie maker. When uploading a video from a camera you can adjust the speed and therefore play the lightning in slow motion. A very handy feature to use in the future, especially if I capture any lightning from a storm at night.

Must invest in a new camera though!

[SimonP]

Quite a day! Seen some amazing structures - there must surely be some good pics and vids out there!

Going purely on GFS and its CAPE modelling, could be a couple of days this coming week with potential. Keeping an eye on things...!

Also, kudos to Estofex who had a chunk of the UK under a 50% lightning area. No severe warning area, as they mention in their text; warranted due to the lack of DLS etc. Lots of people have been slating their forecasts as they have issued a couple of severe level areas (some level 1s issued earlier this year) for the UK, only for CI to not occur. However, such areas have only been surrounded by a 15% lightning area, and many people seem to overlook this!

[matty8]

Anyone have any info on that monster of a storm near the Ely/Littleport areas? Surely has to be golfball sized hail and flooding within that, I've been seeing tonnes of lightning clearly from over 20 miles away! It looks really rather insane!

I was indeed in that storm, drove up to it and met it at Littleport... what can I say, it was one of the best storms I've ever seen/witnessed. Almost constant flashes of lightning, torrential rain and large hail (around 2-4mm in diameter). Drove back out of it towards Soham and got ahead of the gust front, then met it again at Soham and it came with a bang - 50mph+ winds with constant rumbles and flashes. There's no doubt this was a severe storm, don't get them like this in the UK often. The sky had that green tint look about it.

[MP-R]

Narrowly missed that torrential rain cycling to Bath this afternoon. Could see the cloud chasing me and my mate and saw a few flashes and quite a few booms, including one nearly overhead that crackled a lot and seemed to travel along the cloud ending in an explosive noise somewhere to the northeast.

The rain set in with a vengeance when we got to Bath with some more distant thunder heard then was dry after 5pm with an ever increasing cool wind. Mum said there was a loud solitary bang of thunder at home which prompted her to bring the washing in at around 2.45 followed by heavy rain.

[80sWeather]

Anyone have any info on that monster of a storm near the Ely/Littleport areas? Surely has to be golfball sized hail and flooding within that, I've been seeing tonnes of lightning clearly from over 20 miles away! It looks really rather insane!

Yes it was a monster check out post no 554!

[Sprites]

large hail 2-4mm lol , the ELY storm gave a good show from here.

frequent lightning green core, nice shelf.

[Paul R]

Probably worth a mention. Witnessed several CB's today driving west towards Cardiff from Basingstoke. A small thunderstorm with clear rotation at the base was seen between 2-3pm in Newport (S Wales).

[Coast]

Only UKASF with any forecast today, which I think will be generally quieter:

Synopsis:

Sharp upper trough migrates eastwards during the early hours, replaced by an upper/surface ridge with the jet moving north across central Britain. A thermal trough will be present across the British Isles.

Discussion:

Ongoing convective showers ahead and along the occlusion may bring some occasional sferics to coastal parts of East Anglia during the first few hours of the forecast period.

Else with a northwesterly flow, cold-mid levels (typically -21C or so at 500mb) will overspread the forecast area, combining with diurnal heating to help generate a couple hundred J/kg CAPE. While instability is not great, subtle shortwaving will allow a line of showers to develop from NW England southeastwards to East Anglia during the day, with the potential for a few heavier showers.

Severe weather is unlikely, although 30-40kts DLS will allow showers to become fairly well-organised and long-lived, and with veering surface winds there may be scope for a funnel to develop. Dry surface air and attendent higher dewpoint depressions will result in high cloud bases, so even the funnel risk is somewhat limited. Sferic activity, if any, is likely to be quite sparse and infrequent.

[Stuart]

yes coast Look lot quieter tell midnext week but still a bit a way

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

Well, what a day yesterday, saw loads of lightning, heard rumbles constantly all day, radio was going wild every second of the day! What more could I ask for, at least I can admit that yesterday restored my faith a little bit that good storms still exist in the UK! Very impressed with all the pics you lot have taken too!

[maxemoo]

I have been trying to work out how to take photos with an iPhone whilst it is on a tripod and NOT have to keep touching the phone.

Turns out that, when Apple launched iOS5 it allowed the volume-up button on your iPhone to be used as a shutter release, aswell as keeping the screen button there aswell.

Turns out that the "up" volume button on the original Apple headphones also acts as a shutter release!!!!!!!!!!

Roll on the next storm!

Edited August 26, 2012 by 1200max

[I Cumbria Marra I]

been raining heavily for about 45 minutes

[Chris.R]

Here is my forecast for merseyside today. There will be some mostly light showers this morning before becoming dry and mainly sunny this afternoon. Miled, with an onshore wnw breeze.

[Cheshire Freeze]

Was that pic taken about 3 hours ago? I also saw a small funnel to my north, possibly the one in your pic!

I've never even seen a funnel......would love to though