Storm & Convective Discussion - 01/09/14 onwards

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

Ok so attempt number 9 (or is it 10?) to get anywhere near a storm before next year.

This is tomorrow's plan anyway - looking like good potential according to Estofex - but I have found forecasts per the last week to be wildly inaccurate pointing out the best areas to be for the best chances to get something resembling even mild thundery rain (please don't complain that I said that - I really have been trying my best this week).

SO here's hoping me and my trusty - but largely unused as yet - camera can get some good footage and I can finally enjoy JUST ONE storm!

I'm going to place myself in Dorking (or maybe Sevenoaks) area for about 10 PM and see what happens but will be playing it by ear and radar-watching like a madman.

Hopefully next year I'll be able to move out of the central south of England/ guildford area as it seems to deter storm initiation - even with the right conditions.

Frustrating but I power on through with hope for tomorrow...!!

Wish me luck - and any chasing tips / timings are very welcome!!!!

[poseidon]

CG shot from earlier........

 

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

Can still see the Norfolk storm flashing away! Looks amazing

[MP-R]

Here are some piccies from today. Most of today was sunny but an organisation of cells moved through mid-afternoon and these were taken between 13:30 and 15:30. Although I didn't see any lightning, there were quite a few booms of thunder as it moved in. It also looked like a funnel cloud was forming as pictured but as quickly as it showed up, it disappeared again. The rain was very intense for 5-10 minutes, even violent with trees bent over and throwing off leaves but the whole cell moved through within half an hour and the sun shone for the rest of the day after that.

 

[Mapantz]

I'm not seeing much in the way of anything tomorrow? The NMM 3km model shows zilch and none of the other hi res charts do to be honest. There maybe some pre-frontal showers in the south, tomorrow late afternoon.

A lot of rain to comcome though..

Edited October 11, 2014 by Mapantz

[Muffelchen]

I can see distant lightning to the NW: must be from the Thirsk cell! Orange flashes lower down with bright blue ones above.

[03jtrickey]

You're in for a treat if it keeps going the way it is. Off it booms towards the wash and Norfolk now this side of it!

Agreed - spectacular storms near Peterborough today. I was out cycling with a friend at the time, near Nassington and it took us by surprise. At one point there were 3 simultaneous CG lightning strikes!

[Eye to the sky]

Was at a wedding in South Derbyshire today and was hit by two sharp showers.The skies to the south and west looked spectacular at around 4pm but nothing was to develop.But in the sun it felt more like July than October.Had a good storm on Wednesday so can't complain really.

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

We were out near Brooke (S. Norfolk) and heard thunder as we were getting ready to leave.  Getting in the car was quite concerning as there were IC and CG strikes not far off.  As we drove through Poringland towards Norwich, we seemed to punch through the core of the southern cell.  Torrential rain, hail and frequent CG and IC strikes (though probably 2/3 of them CG IMO.  As we turned east, the intensity subsided as we were heading the opposite way to the cell, though we could still see flashes of lightning behind us illuminating the cloud structure.

 

All in all, I'm pretty sure that was the most violent sferics I can recall in October for many years, and certainly came as a surprise (I was expecting the odd hefty shower with perhaps the odd rumble, but not as many strikes as that or such torrential ppn).

 

Forgive my ignorance, but, on NW radar, it appeared to my inexperienced eyes as an MCS.  Is that an accurate description?

[virtualsphere]

A few pics of Cbs building up and moving away yesterday evening - apologies for poor quality, they were taken on my phone.

[Greeny]

Thursday I was disappointed about chasing and wish I didn't, this evening I wasn't going to chase but glad I did!

An unexpected MCS in October! Lightning was awesome. I've got lots of video and some slow motion lightning but my phone is slow and will have to gradually share them.

These 2 panoramic pictures will be good for a start :-) it wasn't as curved as it is in the pictures.

Edit : deleted them cause they came out wrong :-(

Edited October 11, 2014 by Greenday

[Norfolk Sheep]

Funny how us in Norfolk don't go into "OMG!!" mode when we get an absolute doozy of a storm! Initially only a couple of rumbles when it passed to my north, but within 30 mins it grew horns in a big way - I actually was in the van intending just to get some even cloudscapes so no tripod, remote blah blah as I really wasn't expecting it to develop as it did. I paused briefly on the way to Mattishall, superb IC and CGs, plus some large hail for a time, possible rotation but didn't get it on video as I was interrupted by the hail shaft! Stopped again at a good view point and just watched the clouds being lit up every few seconds, then went down the A47 towards Norwich still with this incredible light show as it got dark.  Came back towards Wymondham via Marlingford (wind damage observed - branches and tree debris on the road for about half a mile) and stopped off again as I thought the tail ender would still be very active as it had been really chucking out CGs previously. However it all died off, apart from lightning still visible out towards the coast about 40 miles away.

All in all the best storm for a decade! 

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

 

Funny how us in Norfolk don't go into "OMG!!" mode when we get an absolute doozy of a storm! Initially only a couple of rumbles when it passed to my north, but within 30 mins it grew horns in a big way - I actually was in the van intending just to get some even cloudscapes so no tripod, remote blah blah as I really wasn't expecting it to develop as it did. I paused briefly on the way to Mattishall, superb IC and CGs, plus some large hail for a time, possible rotation but didn't get it on video as I was interrupted by the hail shaft! Stopped again at a good view point and just watched the clouds being lit up every few seconds, then went down the A47 towards Norwich still with this incredible light show as it got dark.  Came back towards Wymondham via Marlingford (wind damage observed - branches and tree debris on the road for about half a mile) and stopped off again as I thought the tail ender would still be very active as it had been really chucking out CGs previously. However it all died off, apart from lightning still visible out towards the coast about 40 miles away.

All in all the best storm for a decade! 

 

 

 

It really was outstanding, wasn't it?

[SupaSnowy]

Here is a picture from the early hours this morning...

Edited October 11, 2014 by SupaSnowy

[PolarWarsaw]

Heard 1 rumble of thunder here since the Friday night of the plume, says it all about this place weatherwise. Enjoy guys!

[poseidon]

Like that a lot...it's as if you're almost there real deal shot that.

 

Cheers. Was surprised to get anything at all to be honest as convection earlier in the afternoon was pretty rubbish around here.

[Sprites]

Watched that large storm over Cambs move into norfolk, by the time it was dark the storm was 40+ miles away, took a few pics near Livermere of distant lightning, a good storm for October!.

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

Got a photo from Guildford of the storm which moved up from Hants yesterday afternoon. Was big but only a few rumbles heard from it - although it did produce a large CG as it moved away (when I was looking away from it! Grrr...)

[vladthemert]

going to be fun tomorrow I feel force 7/8 with sea swell 10ft down the humber and winds pushing directly up the humber.   I can see this might cause flooding in the lowlands around sprunehorpe.   Sorry the auto to stop swearing refuses to say our Lincolnshire neighbour.  

Edited October 12, 2014 by vladthemert

[Generalelectrix]

Hi@all

Great pics of the storm up east, thanks for posting. Quite unexpectedly potent development so late in the season, wonder whether there is more in store. The temperature of the seawater surrounding the UK is going to play a great role here..

 

@ chrisbell-nottheforecaster: I woldnt really classify it as an MCS, it was more of a strong multicell. To classify as an MCS for example the uninterrupted span of precipitation must be at least 60 Miles across in any direction, and this wasnt the case. MCS for example are these massive systems which form on a regular basis over the south of France in summer( with uninterrupted and cold cloud top on Infrared Satpic) which then track N-NE, skim the southeast UK and cause great frustration in the Netweather community, but provide great lightshows over places like Belgium

 

Well, lets hope there will be yet another event this year to get the forum buzzing once more..

 

Regards

 

Ralph

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

What's the synopsis for electrical activity in the south tonight? I have the option of driving down to Bognor Regis to watch anything happening out to sea if it is worth it

[Mapantz]

What's the synopsis for electrical activity in the south tonight? I have the option of driving down to Bognor Regis to watch anything happening out to sea if it is worth it

Minimal SB & ML CAPE in the far southeast showing on the NMM 3km, so a possible convective element to rainfall there, or East Anglia in the early hours. Other than that, rainfall looks mostly dynamic everywhere else. A rumble of thunder cannot be ruled out in the heavier bursts of rain of course, but there doesn't look like a great deal on offer, at least not until slow moving thundery showers move in behind tomorrow.

[jamesslater93]

We've had quite a few thundery showers/thunderstorms here over the past 5 days or so, especially on Tuesday (although I was at uni so I missed Tuesday's action).

 

Two still images here: the first from Thursday evening, the second from Friday afternoon

[Liam J]

Good shots James, certainly been an active week for many! 

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

Storms initiated on the French mainland and it's a long shot but were they to continue in current direction for the next 5 hours it might be interesting to see if they could make it anywhere near our shores.

Otherwise very grey and murky cloud here