South West & Central Southern England - Weather Chat

[Dorsetbred]

Passing shower of soft hail just cruised through, nicely showing on radar.

[Mark Neal.]

Convection getting going now. Big Towering Cu. 8.2c. 

[gottolovethisweather]

8.7c in Newbury but sleeting right now from a passing shower. 

[Mapantz]

A lovely convective day!  11°C and sunny.

 

 

Just had an icy/soft hail shower. Lovely petrichor smell!

Edited March 24, 2015 by Mapantz

[MP-R]

Convection is a go here with plenty of cbs around. Off to the gym to get back before anything potentially exciting pops up.

[Andy Bown]

A lovely convective day!  11°C and sunny.

 

WP_20150324_12_00_50_Rich.jpg

 

Just had an icy/soft hail shower. Lovely petrichor smell!

Love that smell! Hope a core or 2 pass directly over my location to bring soft hail because that is my favourite precipitation type and it seems to happen most at this time of year on showery days with cold air.

 

Being out working this morning it was obvious to see the clouds respond to the increasing sun strength/warmth soon after 10.00 .

[Mark Neal.]

Lovely clear skies overhead currently, a lull in the convective skyline. NW/N looks good with some big CBS lurking over the Cotswolds.

[Nights King]

Started as hail and now it is snowing 

 

Lasted 15 mins and left a dusting of hail and snow.   Temperature dropped to 1.5c

Edited March 24, 2015 by Nights King

[Mapantz]

Started as hail and now it is snowing 

 

Lasted 15 mins and left a dusting of hail and snow.   Temperature dropped to 1.5c

 

haha - Crazy!

 

A temp drop of around 1°C during a soft hail shower at midday, here. It feels lovely and warm in the sunshine, light winds too.

 

[gottolovethisweather]

Started as hail and now it is snowing 

 

Lasted 15 mins and left a dusting of hail and snow.   Temperature dropped to 1.5c

 

Blimey, shows what elevation does for these setups. Was up to 10.4c earlier so it would be mightily impressive to drop so low in my neck of the woods. Interesting, a odd few sferics are now showing on the radars so keep an ear out guys n gals.

[Andy Bown]

I am remembering how often on convective days showers slide by just to the West of Warminster after crossing the Mendips! There was a brief soft hail shower a few hours ago otherwise dry and cloudy due to cloud from aforementioned showers.

 

I would like to have been under the shower which intensified WSW of Salisbury and provided lightning about an hour ago, the radar colours go from blue to red in less than 10 minutes!!

[Lyn-M]

Showers?  What showers?  Absolutely nowt here except a few spots showing on the paving slabs.  Light shower to east of Sherborne about an hour ago, but blink and you'd miss it.

[Nights King]

Blimey, shows what elevation does for these setups. Was up to 10.4c earlier so it would be mightily impressive to drop so low in my neck of the woods. Interesting, a odd few sferics are now showing on the radars so keep an ear out guys n gals.

 

Nearly all melted now and temperature is rocketing again but here is a picture just as it came to an end. 

 

[Dorsetbred]

Touch of winteriness in the passing shower

[*Stormforce~beka*]

Had thunder and hailstones here with 2 flashes half hour or so back. Bit flashy noisey suprise.

[Nights King]

Another big shower moving across bristol area towards me and building. temperature is back up to 5.6c for now. 

[MP-R]

Just been for a photo shoot of the cell crossing Bristol just my north, very impressive for the first convective day of the season. Right on the edge here with sproadic hailstones falling with the sun still shining. 

[jethro]

At work near Bristol we had the biggest hail storm I've seen in ages, back home and there's still some here in the shade.

 

A question for all you clever people......why hail? How come when it's way above freezing we can get frozen stuff falling from the sky, but when it's just above freezing we can't get frozen stuff falling for love nor money and end up with rain instead of snow? What's the difference between hail making conditions and snow making conditions?

 

And it's now yakking it down with hail again.

[Mapantz]

At work near Bristol we had the biggest hail storm I've seen in ages, back home and there's still some here in the shade.

 

A question for all you clever people......why hail? How come when it's way above freezing we can get frozen stuff falling from the sky, but when it's just above freezing we can't get frozen stuff falling for love nor money and end up with rain instead of snow? What's the difference between hail making conditions and snow making conditions?

 

And it's now yakking it down with hail again.

 

There's a debate to whether it's true hail or not. Some say that hail comes from storms in the Summer, from the CnB's that lift the raindrops very high in to the atmosphere. Soft hail is a different type of precip (Graupel or ice pellets)

 

As for your Q, the UK's precip starts life out, predominantly as snow. If the conditions are right all the way down through the layers, it will stay as snow. If not, it melts and turns to rain. Rain can then be frozen as it falls through a layer of cold air (below freezing) depending on all the factors, it can be in the form of graupel or ice pellets.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Mapantz

[Andy Bown]

At work near Bristol we had the biggest hail storm I've seen in ages, back home and there's still some here in the shade.

 

A question for all you clever people......why hail? How come when it's way above freezing we can get frozen stuff falling from the sky, but when it's just above freezing we can't get frozen stuff falling for love nor money and end up with rain instead of snow? What's the difference between hail making conditions and snow making conditions?

 

And it's now yakking it down with hail again.

Basic explanation ; hail forms when the ice rises and falls within the shower/storm cloud then falls to ground. The taller the cloud (some are massive today) the bigger the hailstones. Hail falling is not ground temperature dependant, that is why they get huge hail in the USA, Australia etc during severe storms.

[ARTDEMOLE]

Hail whilst walking the woods at Camerton midday ..Just now GRAUPEL then rain... 4.2c.

[Nights King]

Basic explanation ; hail forms when the ice rises and falls within the shower/storm cloud then falls to ground. The taller the cloud (some are massive today) the bigger the hailstones. Hail falling is not ground temperature dependant, that is why they get huge hail in the USA, Australia etc during severe storms.

 

Okay one last question - I understand formation of hail and snow etc but why does elevation increase my chance of snow in these situations? shouldnt it just increase the amount of hail (less melting of the ice pellets) that reaches the ground? Often when there are wintry showers in winter low lying areas get hail and I will see snow? 

 

Just had another shower of hail sleet and snow.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Nights King

[Wilxy]

So today it was rained, hail, sleet, thunder, lightning and now the sun

[gottolovethisweather]

Okay one last question - I understand formation of hail and snow etc but why does elevation increase my chance of snow in these situations? shouldnt it just increase the amount of hail (less melting of the ice pellets) that reaches the ground? Often when there are wintry showers in winter low lying areas get hail and I will see snow? 

 

Just had another shower of hail sleet and snow.

 

I think I can answer this one but am pleased other folk took the plunge on the hail forming question. Air Temperature and Dewpoints are naturally lower in association with height above sea level. Something like for every 300 feet ASL the Temperature will be a degree Fahrenheit lower than the surrounding landscape, all a given on a normal setup other than fog, cloud cover, frontal zones etc. Snow has further to fall, the lower your elevation and if you are in the valleys on days such as today, your ground Temperatures would be much higher in any sunshine.

[MP-R]

Monumental hailstorm has moved through here during the last hour, of course while I had to drive from Cleeve to Clevedon and back. Absolute whiteout conditions at times with the windscreen wipers on full blast. Pavements, roofs and grass all turned white and still are in places even though it's now moved off. Apparently there was overhead thunder here too but I was driving at the time so didn't hear. Nevertheless, a very good first convective day of the season.