Storms and Convective discussion - 1st May 2022 onwards

[ChannelThunder]

40 minutes ago, Flash bang flash bang etc said:

Was that the one that hit bornemouth?

 

I’m thinking of a 2015 one that was similar to last night’s but had surface-based elements and evolved into the most stunning flickering anvil I’ve ever seen as it moved into essex

another similar one was probably the 2019 import that hit Brighton area and moved NE. That again seemed to have more forks but was possibly just down to my location

for sheet lightning there was a system that streamed into the U.K. one evening over Sussex and Kent, but was only really electrical on the very eastern edge. I didn’t chase that day as the forecast looked great for Guildford (hoping it would strike the crown court a few times) but it didn’t want to and we got very thundery rain instead - which just left a sky of regular flashes.

im putting all my footage and photos over the years onto a free computer I got from work. Stuck an SSD in it and it’s got a 1GB regular drive and it’s super quick - perfect as a library of storm events!  so eventually I’ll know what years and months I’m talking about

Any excuse to post this again: 

I was livid as I was in the pub on a social event and missed watching/photographing the Bournemouth supercell. By the time I even got to see it, it was lighting up like a Christmas tree while barreling through northern Wilts, had a good view of it for all of two mins later that night, through beer goggles too

[Justin1705]

Well. I was pretty drunk on the beach. Then went back to hotel. Somehow fell asleep and got woken by massive crash of thunder insane winds. The club downstairs all the railings went over and the members of staff were scrambling, although short lived the initial lead up display on the beach and then a big flash bang flash bang event was amazing. especially because I was hoping that that would seal my 21st birthday, which it did. 
 

glad everyone had a show. 2022 certainly has started well. Can the intense summers ( climate change) cause more frequent events like this when the channel is at maxima temp and conditions are a lot more favourable. Ie plumes. 

[Turquoise]

the best recent storm for us in the North West was around 10pm around  18th August 2020 (I think) where we had a MCS develop over Shropshire and Chester way and increase in intensity as it tracked North East...although we were under a convergence zone that whole week and we had a few smaller storms a few evenings after this storm was ridiculous...the lightning was incredible, all very elevated, mainly orange and pink....and very little thunder......but it was the back end of the storm that was more impressive as it started throwing down CGS every few seconds and shotgun thunder.

sadly nothing to write home about since then up here.

[Eagle Eye]

Slow-motion of quite possibly my favourite ever capture from earlier 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Eagle Eye

[Electricmumma]

Down on bexhill seafront and alovely flash that made us jump! Excuse the whooping and hollering 

 

 

[weatherobsuk]

1 hour ago, Azuremoon2 said:

the best recent storm for us in the North West was around 10pm around  18th August 2020 (I think) where we had a MCS develop over Shropshire and Chester way and increase in intensity as it tracked North East...although we were under a convergence zone that whole week and we had a few smaller storms a few evenings after this storm was ridiculous...the lightning was incredible, all very elevated, mainly orange and pink....and very little thunder......but it was the back end of the storm that was more impressive as it started throwing down CGS every few seconds and shotgun thunder.

sadly nothing to write home about since then up here.

 

I remember the evening well, August 11th 2020 is when most in the NW forum were calling it a bust after early-evening storm initiation had failed but I went for a wander up on the field behind my house anyway only to see that lightning was beginning to flicker towards Leek, it was 20 minutes after that when I noticed that the TCu clouds overhead (illuminated by the Moon) were rapidly going upwards and no sooner than a few minutes later there was lightning flickering all across east Cheshire and heading this way. It was one of the most explosive storm formation events that i've seen and certainly one that's going to be etched into memory alongside the Manchester supercell event.

 

[Jamie M]

Timelapse from last night

[Lu.]

Long night but I really enjoyed.

still lots to learn.. 

Some shots are really under exposed because it was just too bright ?

 

[Danielw]

9 minutes ago, Lu. said:

Long night but I really enjoyed.

still lots to learn.. 

Some shots are really under exposed because it was just too bright ?

 

those are some incredible pics! Well done.

[Wrac]

Bath 18.24 - feels very warm and very humid 

[minus10]

14 minutes ago, Lu. said:

Long night but I really enjoyed.

still lots to learn.. 

Some shots are really under exposed because it was just too bright ?

 

For someone still learning those are briliant photos...i wouldnt know where to start...my favourite is the last...amazing...well done Lu....

[Daniel Finch]

What a great thunderstorm last night. Brighton was the sweet spot for sure. Rain really intensified directly overhead with lightning and rumbles of thunder every 2-5 seconds. I was mad enough to cycle down to Brighton Band Stand for 21:30 and watched it roll in until just after midnight. Here's some footage...  

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Mark Clifford
Spelling mistake

[A Face like Thunder]

1 hour ago, SNOW_JOKE said:

 

I remember the evening well, August 11th 2020 is when most in the NW forum were calling it a bust after early-evening storm initiation had failed but I went for a wander up on the field behind my house anyway only to see that lightning was beginning to flicker towards Leek, it was 20 minutes after that when I noticed that the TCu clouds overhead (illuminated by the Moon) were rapidly going upwards and no sooner than a few minutes later there was lightning flickering all across east Cheshire and heading this way. It was one of the most explosive storm formation events that i've seen and certainly one that's going to be etched into memory alongside the Manchester supercell event.

 

Lovely photos. Later tomorrow may be interesting for those of us in the NW.

[Southern Storm]

1 hour ago, Lu. said:

Long night but I really enjoyed.

still lots to learn.. 

Some shots are really under exposed because it was just too bright ?

 

Wow, great pictures!

What a great start it was, unfortunately it became mostly sheet lightning shortly after this point, but I still loved every second

I must have been a bit closer to the Pier than you. 

That positive bolt you caught is nice, classic positive 

Photographing lightning can be frustrating at times, you can have the best composition ever, but too bright, and it's almost impossible to recover the shot, and too faint is just as frustrating 

Did you shoot raw? If so, you would be amazed how much you can transform a picture that is just on the edge of acceptable

Edited May 19, 2022 by Southern Storm

[The Tall Weatherman]

This what I have scanned so far ! Lots more to scan !

[Allseasons-Si]

1 hour ago, Lu. said:

Long night but I really enjoyed.

still lots to learn.. 

Some shots are really under exposed because it was just too bright ?

 

Lightning is hard enough to catch at best of times so I think that you did a very good job there,...eceptional photos,...well done

Edited May 19, 2022 by Allseasons-si
typo

[Mizzle]

9 hours ago, Nick L said:

An unexpectedly fun evening. Got this great clip of a CG looking towards Aylesbury...

 

 

Great capture...and so enjoyed that you left the excitable soundtrack: I get all shouty and excited too, so much so OH edits out the sound

[Bradley in Kent]

Wow some cracking photos from last night, I'll have to give it a go myself!

[Hedge End weather watcher]

Just going through some of my pics from last night, prob my favourite was this one which was taken looking south west towards  the western solent from Hedge End

[camturbo]

Pukka captures of those storms some of you had last night,alas I was too far west but watching on radar and on blitzortung it was unbelievable. Hopefully we will all get some more chances soon. Great viewing 

[Lu.]

2 hours ago, Southern Storm said:

Wow, great pictures!

What a great start it was, unfortunately it became mostly sheet lightning shortly after this point, but I still loved every second

I must have been a bit closer to the Pier than you. 

That positive bolt you caught is nice, classic positive 

Photographing lightning can be frustrating at times, you can have the best composition ever, but too bright, and it's almost impossible to recover the shot, and too faint is just as frustrating 

Did you shoot raw? If so, you would be amazed how much you can transform a picture that is just on the edge of acceptable

Thanks! There were a few others taking pictures under the shelter, I did wonder if it was you - 

No I shot in JPEG & possibly raw - however I need a new laptop that can cope with raw files then I can start to learn. I also only use long exposure, I saw a few with triggers - but for me that takes the fun out of shooting. 

[Southern Storm]

12 minutes ago, Lu. said:

Thanks! There were a few others taking pictures under the shelter, I did wonder if it was you - 

No I shot in JPEG & possibly raw - however I need a new laptop that can cope with raw files then I can start to learn. I also only use long exposure, I saw a few with triggers - but for me that takes the fun out of shooting. 

I used to shoot jpg, but I leave my camera set to raw now, especially when shooting storms 

The top picture is straight off the camera

If this had been shot as a jpg, it would have been unsalvageable! even if some parts are a little still a little blown out, I still like it.

And it was edited on my phone, so don't worry about PC power... mobile phones are very capable these days! Once you give raw files a try, you won't regret it!

[Zak M]

Last night was probably the best night-time UK storm I've seen since 2018.

This was my view to the south just after 11PM - facing the cell that had just departed Winchester and was near W London. There was loads of orange CC lightning with the odd CG, and was exceptionally bright considering its distance. 

      

Later, a cell developed 15 miles to my west and brought some really bright flashes. This had a pretty interesting structure to it as well.

I suddenly heard rumbling to my south though, so I headed to the back of my house and watched the storm as it approached. The flashes were fairly frequent and I saw an absolute ton of CGs on its eastern flank. 

            

It wasn't long before I encountered a close CG over the house and into a random field nearby - so close in fact it was like watching the bolt in slow motion as it gradually beaded out. I'm gutted I missed the bolt but my microphone did a great job on picking up the loud peel of thunder.

It then went on to produce another relatively close CG that I somewhat caught with my phone, but not my main camera:

    

The rain arrived but then sodded off a minute or two later which caught me by surprise. By now, the lightning was to the east of my location and most strikes were intracloud with the odd fork/CG thrown in. 

I also tried a bit of lightning photography with my Lumix. They're not the best photos but they will do for now. ISO was set to 100 and shutter speed was about 20 secs.

      

      

The flashing continued for a solid hour as it progressed NE until it went out of my reach.

I've also uploaded a video based off it!

Sorry for the loud typing at the beginning - my brother was on his PC and I couldn't record the video elsewhere.

But, yeah... that was a nice surprise. A great start to the storm season! 

(and apologies for the spam btw)

Edited May 19, 2022 by Zak M

[offerman]

Hope its ok to post. I was going through more of my storms photos from Sunday night /Monday early hours storms.  Can i ask your opinions please , on the last one it looks like a funnel cloud in the same shot. What do you think ? 
 

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by offerman
One photo was not storms but just clouds from today.

[Karl83]

5 hours ago, Lu. said:

Long night but I really enjoyed.

still lots to learn.. 

Some shots are really under exposed because it was just too bright ?

 

These are awesome great work.