Southeast England & East Anglia, Weather Chat...July 1st 2015...

[seaside 60]

Bring back the easterlies.

Anything around the south west wind direction means it will be crappy humid heavy oppressive sweaty rubbish.

As I said I cant stand these SW dominated summers, its always so humid. yuukkkkk...

[NO LONGER POSTING]

Bring back the easterlies.

Anything around the south west wind direction means it will be crappy humid heavy oppressive sweaty rubbish.

As I said I cant stand these SW dominated summers, its always so humid. yuukkkkk...

 

But with it brings some interesting weather 

 

AND an easterly is no good in summer your be clogged up with low cloud... 

Edited July 17, 2015 by Surrey

[Daniel*]

Cambridge was hit very hard looking at the radar it just went on and on for them. Overnight Cambridge got 21% of its average annual rainfall so I'm sure there was a lot of surface water flooding.

[seaside 60]

But with it brings some interesting weather 

 

AND an easterly is no good in summer your be clogged up with low cloud... 

Once summer is here,  we never really get the low cloud thats a winter up to end of May thing.

Once the sea temps rise, we rarely get it until the early morning early autumn fogs in Sept/Oct.

Summer is clear skies temps between 20 to 25c, nice sea breeze to take the edge of temps of, calming down over night and repeat and repeat.

It does however mean we have to have a Scandi/north europe or over the top of us high though.

[NO LONGER POSTING]

Once summer is here,  we never really get the low cloud thats a winter up to end of May thing.

Once the sea temps rise, we rarely get it until the early morning early autumn fogs in Sept/Oct.

Summer is clear skies temps between 20 to 25c, nice sea breeze to take the edge of temps of, calming down over night and repeat and repeat.

It does however mean we have to have a Scandi/north europe or over the top of us high though.

 

Hmm.. Bit odd considering all of last month and may we have Easterly/ North Easterly we were plagued with it??

[Harps]

Cambridge was hit very hard looking at the radar it just went on and on for them. Overnight Cambridge got 21% of its average annual rainfall so I'm sure there was a lot of surface water flooding.

Yeah as I said this morning, we're under a foot of water here just outside Cambridge this morning. I slept through all the excitement last night and knew nothing about the storms so couldn't believe it when I pulled up this morning.

Anyone have a radar grab from last night over Cambridge?

[seaside 60]

Hmm.. Bit odd considering all of last month and may we have Easterly/ North Easterly we were plagued with it??

Depends if you are talking about low cloud brought on by the north sea or just normal cloud.

Where you are low cloud from north sea wont affect you that much compared to living on the coast.

How many days did you get easterlies and cloud last month, because I dont remember many.

[Steve C]

Yeah as I said this morning, we're under a foot of water here just outside Cambridge this morning. I slept through all the excitement last night and knew nothing about the storms so couldn't believe it when I pulled up this morning.

Anyone have a radar grab from last night over Cambridge?

 

Here are radar grabs on the hour from 23:00 till 03:00, showing the line and progression of the 'sweet zone' from NW London, northeastwards.

 

 

plus a couple zoomed in to Cambridge, showing just how intense the rainfall was there at times.

 

 

It's a pity I can't show the lightning, which became ridiculous after about 1:00 AM.

[A.J]

here you go Steve....NW v4 custom zoom......that's a lot of lightning! 

 

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

Reposting my post from Severe Weather board:

 

What a night!

 

We heard our first thunder around 11.30, from the first of the line of cells passing to our west, plus (possibly) from a rapidly-developing cell to our east.  This didn't last long, and there was a fair gap during which all was quiet.  Just as I was getting ready to settle down, another cell arrived from our south, rapidly developing and electrifying, with what seemed like mostly IC lightning and readily-audible intermittent thunder.  Around a minute after I closed my eyes, there was a terrific flash; very bright even behind closed eyelids.  My immediate response was to open my eyes, and, as I did, there was one of (if not the) loudest crack(s) of thunder I've ever heard - no rumble, just a crack and a sound like a huge explosion.  My response was to shout (I think) "Bloody hell, that was close!", in reply to which my dad (a usually unflappable man not given to hyperbole) came into the room with his eyes out on stalks.  It turned-out that, the reason it was so loud was that he had to front door open (bungalow) and was standing in the doorway calling the cat to come in.  He thinks he saw the bolt rather than just the all-encompassing flash, but the immediacy of the event left him unsure.  What he did find was that his hair stood on end with the static field, and, as the sound of the thunder arrived, he felt a push on his chest from the pressure wave which forced the air out of his lungs.  Based on what happened, we think the CG strike had to have been no more than 1/2 a mile away, possibly more like 1/3 of a mile. 

 

After a few more flashes and rumbles, that storm moved away, and, after the adrenaline had subsided, I got off to sleep.  Dad reported this morning that, around 2.15-ish, there were two elevated storms visible (on to the west, the other to the north-west), but no audible thunder.  Strangely, at 4.00 am, he was awoken by the cat wanting to be let out again, and reported faint flickering high up in the atmosphere.  On checking the radar, the final cell was around 20-25 miles to our north-west, but I doubt this was the source.  Any ideas as to what he might have seen?

[Steve C]

Reposting my post from Severe Weather board:

 

What a night!

 

We heard our first thunder around 11.30, from the first of the line of cells passing to our west, plus (possibly) from a rapidly-developing cell to our east.  This didn't last long, and there was a fair gap during which all was quiet.  Just as I was getting ready to settle down, another cell arrived from our south, rapidly developing and electrifying, with what seemed like mostly IC lightning and readily-audible intermittent thunder.  Around a minute after I closed my eyes, there was a terrific flash; very bright even behind closed eyelids.  My immediate response was to open my eyes, and, as I did, there was one of (if not the) loudest crack(s) of thunder I've ever heard - no rumble, just a crack and a sound like a huge explosion.  My response was to shout (I think) "Bloody hell, that was close!", in reply to which my dad (a usually unflappable man not given to hyperbole) came into the room with his eyes out on stalks.  It turned-out that, the reason it was so loud was that he had to front door open (bungalow) and was standing in the doorway calling the cat to come in.  He thinks he saw the bolt rather than just the all-encompassing flash, but the immediacy of the event left him unsure.  What he did find was that his hair stood on end with the static field, and, as the sound of the thunder arrived, he felt a push on his chest from the pressure wave which forced the air out of his lungs.  Based on what happened, we think the CG strike had to have been no more than 1/2 a mile away, possibly more like 1/3 of a mile. 

 

After a few more flashes and rumbles, that storm moved away, and, after the adrenaline had subsided, I got off to sleep.  Dad reported this morning that, around 2.15-ish, there were two elevated storms visible (on to the west, the other to the north-west), but no audible thunder.  Strangely, at 4.00 am, he was awoken by the cat wanting to be let out again, and reported faint flickering high up in the atmosphere.  On checking the radar, the final cell was around 20-25 miles to our north-west, but I doubt this was the source.  Any ideas as to what he might have seen?

 

From what you've described, I reckon 50 feet might have been closer to the mark...

[NO LONGER POSTING]

So I experienced something new last night something called a "hail roar" fu**** cool! 

[Methuselah]

25C in Norfolk. That explains the blowtorch effect

[alexisj9]

Hmm.. Bit odd considering all of last month and may we have Easterly/ North Easterly we were plagued with it??

Nope it  was sunny here, just cool.

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

From what you've described, I reckon 50 feet might have been closer to the mark...

 

 

It's been suggested to me that it may have been a +ve CG from the anvil, hence why it was closer that all the other lightning, and it would explain the brightness, volume and pressure wave.

[Methuselah]

26 at Norwich Airport; that's about 6C higher than it was, here, yesterday afternoon.

[seaside 60]

Blimey sundays MO forecast has changed a lot.

[Steve C]

It's been suggested to me that it may have been a +ve CG from the anvil, hence why it was closer that all the other lightning, and it would explain the brightness, volume and pressure wave.

If it's what I'm thinking (from reading in my youth) those are rare - a 1 per more than a million lightning strokes.

Having said that, I was speaking to a pub local, who described seeing what was obviously ball lightning in his youth. He didn't even know what it was. I was astounded hearing him relaying the tale, last weekend.

Edited July 17, 2015 by Steve C

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

If it's what I'm thinking (from reading in my youth) those are rare - a 1 per more than a million lightning strokes.

Having said that, I was speaking to a pub local, who described seeing what was obviously ball lightning in his youth. He didn't even know what it was. I was astounded hearing him relaying the tale, last weekend.

According to this site, positive lighting makes up less than 5% of all strikes:

 

http://www.aharfield.co.uk/lightning-protection-services/about-lightning

[Neilsouth]

Has anyone explained why those storms were so active and why they developed in such a line that they did? We had the odd isolated storm across the south east then they decayed rapidly and then that happened

[Steve C]

According to this site, positive lighting makes up less than 5% of all strikes:

 

http://www.aharfield.co.uk/lightning-protection-services/about-lightning

I probably need to revisit my learning. There's a certain very rare high energy stroke. My hunch is that your lightning was very close to you. Remembering that lightning distance to the sound of its attendant thunder is 5 seconds per mile; lots of people think it's only one second.

[Methuselah]

Has anyone explained why those storms were so active and why they developed in such a line that they did? We had the odd isolated storm across the south east then they decayed rapidly and then that happened

Only and idea; but they may have formed along the boundary between two contrasting airmasses?

Edited July 17, 2015 by Ed Stone

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

I probably need to revisit my learning. There's a certain very rare high energy stroke. My hunch is that your lightning was very close to you. Remembering that lightning distance to the sound of its attendant thunder is 5 seconds per mile; lots of people think it's only one second.

 

You may well be correct; as far as I've been able to ascertain, identifying positive strikes by eye is pretty much impossible, and I had my eyes closed at the time!    Given the "5 seconds per mile" rule, at less than 1 second it was bloody close!

 

EDIT:  Speed of sound = 372 yards/second.  We reckon there was 1/2 second between flash and bang. That really was close!

Edited July 17, 2015 by chrisbell-nottheforecaster

[Captain Shortwave]

Another stormy night followed by a fresher but somehow warmer day. A high of 26C.

[alexisj9]

You may well be correct; as far as I've been able to ascertain, identifying positive strikes by eye is pretty much impossible, and I had my eyes closed at the time!    Given the "5 seconds per mile" rule, at less than 1 second it was bloody close!

 

EDIT:  Speed of sound = 372 yards/second.  We reckon there was 1/2 second between flash and bang. That really was close!

I've heard one +ve strike in my life, the thunder just went bang, and it was the loudest thunder I have ever heard. Had close strikes loads of times but never like this one. The storm was moving away and it came out of the back.