Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

[Alderc 2.0]

A solid storm last night and first decent one of the year. It was a bit chaotic at times with cells popping up all over the place.A little hail mixed in at times and some really gusty winds for about 10mins.

 

 

[Eagle Eye]

Well, I did sort of get something. 

[Puddy Galore]

Zero storms here unless, of course, I slept through it

Edited September 18, 2023 by Snowycat

[Eagle Eye]

Chailey Peter Jr at Beachy Head last night. 

[sunnijim]

 

The best storm of the year by some margin ( the fourth) and up there with the best in recent years.

* consrant flashing and rumbling on approach.

* insane wind as the storm hit

* biblical rain rates.

* 10 minutes of fully overhead thunder and lightning.

* two close CG forks and house shaking thunder setting off dogs,cats,waking wife's and toddler and every alarm in the vicinity!

 

My STORM RATING would be 8/10.

My highest mark since October 22.

Not reaching a 9 or 10 due to lightning rates and thunder rates abating a little as it came ashore and the longevity of an hour overall not a classic.

However, a very reasonable effort.

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by sunnijim

[Azazel]

There were storms last night?

 

Only kidding, of course I wasn’t asleep!

Tried to go to sleep just before round 3 but the storm kept dropping some positive strikes nearby with absolutely explosive sounding thunder which kept making me jump. A few things around here must’ve been struck.

Cracking storm(s) though and makes up for the drought we’ve endured a little. Didn’t really get many pics or anything because of the torrential rain.

[East_England_Stormchaser91]

6 hours ago, Mcconnor8 said:

Radar looks very intense over there

Poor old Mrs was trying to desperately get to sleep! Then here’s this nutter (me) saying “oh my word” at the anvil crawlers streaming across overhead. Some real loud ground shakers occurred as the storm was departing North. Probably the loudest thunder of the year so far, and by far the most intense night storm of the last 3 years. 

[CoventryWeather]

Woke up at 3 this morning to some of the heaviest rain and hail I've seen and strobing lightning displays. Several close CGs too, 1 or 2 could have well been positive ones. 

Kept hopes low and got rewarded. A lovely little surprise. Fair to say I think my area is done for active storms this year. 

And I'm glad Andover got something! 3 storms if I am right! 

[BlueHedgehog074]

Got woken up last night to a few bright flashes, rumbles and high quality rain. Nothing too remarkable and intense like some had, but got caught off guard by it. 

One of those cases it feels like where you think nothing will happen, and it does. And when you think something will happen, it doesn’t

[Eagle Eye]

Whatever camera he uses, it's incredible. 

 

[Neilsouth]

1 hour ago, Shaunado said:

Oh Kent, oh Kent

Thy location for Gallic storms was heaven-sent

But now, why such an honour dost thou delegate

And tempest-shield thy garden peninsula so oft of late?

 

 

It wasn't a shield as such, but that decayed MCS which traversed a lot of rain out of france into the channel. All the storms were to the west of it :(

[Southern Storm]

The Morning after the night before, and what a night it was!

I feel like most of the areas that were lacking storms over the past few months will have gotten something last night, but most importantly, for everyone else that visits this thread, you won't have to listen to us lot in central southern areas complain we haven't had a storm this year  

I'm sure they'll be some that still haven't had a close encounter yet, but as last year proves, it's possible to get a good storm well into October, so have faith as you never know what can happen.

Yesterday will go down as one of the best days for storms that I personally can remember, waking up at 4am and seeing the storms over towards Weymouth was a great way to start the day, then there were more storms late morning, before the cherry on to which was last night. 

2023 storm season condensed in the one amazing day, I'll take that!

    

 

[Josh Rubio]

Anything thundery expected with the stuff incoming from the West?

[danm]

Pretty crazy for a time last night. I don't think i've ever experienced a thunderstorm where there were lightning flashes so frequently - literally every 5 to 10 seconds for about half an hour or so. It reminded me of that scene from Only Fools and Horses where Del, Rodney and Grandad are down in the SW at Boycie's cottage and there's a storm, and they showed non stop lightning. 

[sunnijim]

36 minutes ago, Neilsouth said:

 

It wasn't a shield as such, but that decayed MCS which traversed a lot of rain out of france into the channel. All the storms were to the west of it

Mentioned this yesterday evening.

It was my fear that it hoovered up the Cape in the area effected.

Proved to be mostly the case East of Eastbourne

 

[alexisj9]

40 minutes ago, Neilsouth said:

 

It wasn't a shield as such, but that decayed MCS which traversed a lot of rain out of france into the channel. All the storms were to the west of it

Yep, it basically used up all our juice, but at least something built ahead of it here, that produced some lightning and thunder here. And really took off up in Thanet.

[Supacell]

In hindsight I probably travelled further than I needed to last night, but was it worth it?

Initially I had headed down the M1 to the M25 with the idea to head east. With little consistency on the models I didn't really have a plan, although I was favouring somewhere like Essex or Kent. I therefore headed east and through the Dartford tunnel, by which time the Channel had come alive with sferics. The problem was, 90% of those sferics were in the mid Channel and I was headed towards the Eastern Channel.

So I decided I was going to abandon the idea of Kent and headed westwards on the M25 with a new target of somewhere near Brighton. As I approached a sudden increase of lightning occurred to my northwest. A storm had broken out but as it was heading north it was moving away from me so I continued to the coast, eventually deciding on Worthing to be my target. The lightning detectors were showing an immense amount of lightning heading in there.

As I arrived in Worthing I could see frequent flashes of lightning, but it took frustratingly long to reach the coast. Although in reality it was only about 5 minutes but I wanted to get there. When I did I got out of my car to a display of strobe lightning over the sea and a constant roar of thunder. I don't remember seeing such frequent lightning in the UK (maybe back on the storm of 17-18th July 2017). I saw no CGs at all, which was a little disappointing, but the spectacle of the constant lightning and thunder felt quite exciting.

I had just arrived in time to see the storm approach and when it did it arrived quickly. A sudden torrent of rain and gusty winds turned the shelter I was using into a wet wind tunnel. It was hard finding a place to film where I wasn't being blasted as if I was actually out to sea in a storm! I was not the only one sheltering there. A few people had gathered taking photos and watching the spectacle. I wonder if any of them are reading this . Either way, we were all getting wet under the shelter.

I am unsure how long it lasted but it did not take long for everywhere to become under water. I decided there was no point standing in the rain any longer and so ran back to the car. Unfortunately I wrecked my trainers as I had no choice but to paddle in ankle deep water.

From this point on I chased the storm, but I never caught it up again. Further storms were developing to the north but were all moving away from me at a rate I couldn't keep up with. The lightning frequency seemed to drop off,  but occasionally there was a burst of more frequent distant lightning. Either way though, the storms were moving faster than me driving on very wet or flooded roads.

So was it worth it. I saw a biblical downpour of rain accompanied by gale force gusts of wind and arguably the most frequent lightning of my storm chase career. But I drove a long way and the chase back proved unsuccessful, the storms I was chasing were moving too fast. Well in hindsight, I don't regret the drive. I think it was worth it.  A good 'potential' end to the 2023 storm chase season for me 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Supacell
Added another sentence

[ANYWEATHER]

A few rumbles of thunder in the night, must have been semi-awake to hear it! Overall a good year for storms here, probably the most active year for many a year here, although nothing notable ,it's the frequency of the thunder storms this year which made it more notable compared to the non descript recent years...

[Harry's House]

Heard only one clap of thunder all last night, at 1123 pm to SE'ly. Reasonable amount of lightning before midnight. Had a short period of heavy rain some time after midnight.

[tomp456]

Very heavy rain here again now, and, surprise surprise its very wet!

 

 

No thunder this time though, which after last nights drizzle, I'm totally ok with!

[sunnijim]

48 minutes ago, Supacell said:

In hindsight I probably travelled further than I needed to last night, but was it worth it?

Initially I had headed down the M1 to the M25 with the idea to head east. With little consistency on the models I didn't really have a plan, although I was favouring somewhere like Essex or Kent. I therefore headed east and through the Dartford tunnel, by which time the Channel had come alive with sferics. The problem was, 90% of those sferics were in the mid Channel and I was headed towards the Eastern Channel.

So I decided I was going to abandon the idea of Kent and headed westwards on the M25 with a new target of somewhere near Brighton. As I approached a sudden increase of lightning occurred to my northwest. A storm had broken out but as it was heading north it was moving away from me so I continued to the coast, eventually deciding on Worthing to be my target. The lightning detectors were showing an immense amount of lightning heading in there.

As I arrived in Worthing I could see frequent flashes of lightning, but it took frustratingly long to reach the coast. Although in reality it was only about 5 minutes but I wanted to get there. When I did I got out of my car to a display of strobe lightning over the sea and a constant roar of thunder. I don't remember seeing such frequent lightning in the UK (maybe back on the storm of 17-18th July 2017). I saw no CGs at all, which was a little disappointing, but the spectacle of the constant lightning and thunder felt quite exciting.

I had just arrived in time to see the storm approach and when it did it arrived quickly. A sudden torrent of rain and gusty winds turned the shelter I was using into a wet wind tunnel. It was hard finding a place to film where I wasn't being blasted as if I was actually out to sea in a storm! I was not the only one sheltering there. A few people had gathered taking photos and watching the spectacle. I wonder if any of them are reading this . Either way, we were all getting wet under the shelter.

I am unsure how long it lasted but it did not take long for everywhere to become under water. I decided there was no point standing in the rain any longer and so ran back to the car. Unfortunately I wrecked my trainers as I had no choice but to paddle in ankle deep water.

From this point on I chased the storm, but I never caught it up again. Further storms were developing to the north but were all moving away from me at a rate I couldn't keep up with. The lightning frequency seemed to drop off,  but occasionally there was a burst of more frequent distant lightning. Either way though, the storms were moving faster than me driving on very wet or flooded roads.

So was it worth it. I saw a biblical downpour of rain accompanied by gale force gusts of wind and arguably the most frequent lightning of my storm chase career. But I drove a long way and the chase back proved unsuccessful, the storms I was chasing were moving too fast. Well in hindsight, I don't regret the drive. I think it was worth it.  A good 'potential' end to the 2023 storm chase season for me 

Next time you head this way,take up a position on the South Downs.

Somewhere like Firle beacon would give you a panoramic view at all points of the compass and a car park at the top.

[Windblade]

Incredible storm at 12.30am this morning. Lasted for ages and flashes every few seconds. Proper Usa style stuff. Didn't come right over, most of the flashes were quite far away and all ic but was great to finally get something and something at night as well. What was weird was there was hardly any wind whatsoever. Just constant flashes and booms (not very loud). Still haven't seen a single fork this year and guessing this will probably be my last chance but what a way to finish off what has for me been an incredibly disappointing season up until last night when things turned around. 

Good grief! 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Windblade

[TwisterGirl81]

3 hours ago, richie3846 said:

Swindon received the best storm in years last night. Epic thunder and lightning, with local rain measurements between 60 and 100mm. I suspect there may be some flooding, and if memory serves me, our wettest day locally since July 2007. 

Sounds epic!  I believe here in Exeter received the highest rainfall of the day for the UK at 63.8mm from the earlier torrential downpours according to met office https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/observations/weather-extremes

I couldn't find any data on google for Swindon rainfall totals yesterday so it could be there is no station, not sure anyone knows?

Edited September 18, 2023 by TwisterGirl81

[Newben76]

Definitely the best storm we've had in many years last night. It's been such a bad year I'd totally given up. Every time you thought wow this is crazy it seemed to ramp up a level. Constant thunder and lightning for about 45 mins. Rainfall rates were very impressive. Finished with a couple of louder CG strikes. 

[tomp456]

There are reports of a tornado overnight in Littlehampton causing minor damage.