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

[Stuart]

Ok , I got knocked off the Internet by a storm lol amazing purple/pink thunderbolt scared the life of me... Lasted 10 minutes but was blinkin good I want more now lol

yeeeeeepy you out of nsc now

[Paul]

Want to become a netweather storm chaser - more info here:

http://goo.gl/1pDx4

[Chris.R]

Exactly Ian, I just can't seem to make people understand! It gets me down. Before creating their forecasts, I believe that The metoffice etc really should do more research in my oppinion into the local variations on the weather around here, e.g. The affect of an onshore breeze on shower activity, and lake effect snow in the winter which is an importent part of convective activity here at that time of the year.

[Chris.R]

Also Ian, about night lightning, when was the last time we had proper night lightning before last week? The last time I can think of was 20th July 2006, 6 years ago! If you think about it, that means that some children under about 10 might not have ever seen it before.

Or will have been too young to remember seing it.

[IanR]

Exactly Ian, I just can't seem to make people understand! It gets me down. Before creating their forecasts, I believe that The metoffice etc really should do more research in my oppinion into the local variations on the weather around here, e.g. The affect of an onshore breeze on shower activity, and lake effect snow in the winter which is an importent part of convective activity here at that time of the year.

my experience is that the only time the Irish sea generates its own storms is in late Autumn if there are cold uppers coming in on a pM airflow associated with low pressure over the still relatively warm sea, but these tend to be weak electrically for some reason but very torrential

[Paul]

For those missing out on lightning today, take a look at the shots the team in Arizona bagged last night :o

http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/74241-reports-pictures-chase-day-3-sedona-and-prescott/

[gottolovethisweather]

I have to say, a few people have queried atmospheric changes that have decreased thundery activity on here, and i have to agree.

Back in the 80's i remember a week in Summer where there was a storm every day for a week, and they would rumble on for hours! And now i can't manage one in seven years, it's simply bizarre.

Myself included. Mind you, I include a Thunder day by definition as Thunder simply heard or Lightning observed so a fairly loose interpretation, I guess.

Having said that as you conclude, the overnight rumblers have become very much absent in my neck of the woods too. The 1980s and 1990s produced many of those belters. The UK is very overpopulated towards the South and Southeast now, could that be some sort of reason for a lack of imported storms? Arctic ice melts, Jet Stream deviations, Habitat destruction, many more gas gussling vehicles and all night flights taking off. Most of which is happening on a global scale, so maybe we need to look beyond our shores to try to answer these mysteries.

Sorry mods, off at a tangent there. There is an interesting storm to look at, due West of me, this will be the last T&L of the day for me, if it makes it.

Edited August 25, 2012 by gottolovethisweather

[Chris.R]

Yes, late autumn, and early winter november and often december. I remember often having frequent heavy graupel and hail showers that would just accumulate on the ground overnight untill the sun rise. Also christmas day 2004 i'll never forget, I went outside in the early morning in a shower of huge hailstones and then a great CG lightning strike that scared me to death hit just over the road. O the good times.

[IanR]

Also Ian, about night lightning, when was the last time we had proper night lightning before last week? The last time I can think of was 20th July 2006, 6 years ago! If you think about it, that means that some children under about 10 might not have ever seen it before.

Or will have been too young to remember seing it.

There hasn't been many at all, the last was a dusk storm in april 2011 after the mini heatwave, i have seen the odd distant flash but its very rare, so the other week was a nice treat to see an hour or so of lightning , even though it was over 25 miles away or more it was reasonable vivid with blue, purple and even a greenish tinge to some flashes

[Chris.R]

O yes, I remember, Apr 22nd 2011, although you couldn't really see the lightning from here as it was too far to my east.

[DanN]

Funnel or no funnel? I'm not convinced either way...

[Evening thunder]

There's been a really intense storm(s) just north of Ely, Cambridgeshire for over an hour now, if you have Netweather extra radar and use the 'NW origional' scale, some of the time there have been 'off the scale' (or over 250mm/hr) grey bits in the storms!

This was one image I saved earlier:

Hung around that area with 'off the scale' colours for over 30 minutes.. must have been some large totals and flooding.

Loads of lightning too of course.

Some of these storms make my several rumbels of thunder around lunch time look a bit pathetic lol.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Stormmad26

[Mapantz]

Funnel or no funnel? I'm not convinced either way...

I'd call that a scud funnel. Nice pic though!

[IanR]

What are the chances for next Wednesday in the NW, the BBC put a yellow zig zag on my post code 6 day forecast for Wednesday , should I buy into it, not convinced one little bit.

[Wet'n'Dry]

Funnel or no funnel? I'm not convinced either way...

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

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

That storm in Cambridgeshire is a cracker, saw clear +CG's from it whilst driving along the A47! Looking at it now, could that be a supercell, definitely maybe!

[Jane Louise]

We are flooded here! the ditches in the field next to us is overflowing and the car park by the house is nearly a foot deep... looks like more rain on the way!

[DanN]

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

About half 4ish.

[Ben_Cambs]

The storm that has passed through here was just incredible, by far the best in years, constant IC lightning and thunder, hail and torrentail rain, and at visibility was reduced to near zero with big gusts!

[Chris W]

What an amazing day, such a rash of storms - still close to 3000 strikes in the last hour or so. Disappointed to miss out, but glad so many storm lovers got to see a real show today. Amazing.

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

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!

[Ben_Cambs]

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!

12 miles south of Ely here we had some fairly large hail, and a good 12mm of rain in a very short space of time.

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

12 miles south of Ely here we had some fairly large hail, and a good 12mm of rain in a very short space of time.

I see. I think we were the breeding ground of that thing, it just exploded with sferics as it exited Peterborough.

[Stuart]

well after all the storms down in england and wales maybe i get a turn some time midweek but that a long way off

[The PIT]

Well a day that promised much teased and then finally failed to deliver as storms passed by just to the north and just to the south. A frusting day over all.