Storms and Convective discussion - September 2023

[Scuba steve]

Some thunderstorms in Cumbria now 

[Shaunado]

 

Beautiful  

[The Tall Weatherman]

Last night was very interesting, it was 1:30am and was not expecting anything until a storm near Bedford lit up and moved north. I have put together a Timelapse from my Canon 250D of the active storm and managed to snap a very bright CG around 2:03. The thing is that this bolt almost moved from the ground and up but I did not really have the best of angles in this case so anybody’s suggestions are welcome as I have included a video. I am also extremely tired and almost passed out during maths . Anyways some of these forum photos are nothing short of amazing especially @Southern Storm@ChannelThunder@Stormhog@Storm_Sikher@Eagle Eye.

[alexisj9]

4 hours ago, toggerobz said:

Trail of devastation after freak 'mini-tornado' hit West Sussex with flying debris trashing vehicles and homes as Atlantic storm battered Britain | Daily Mail Online

WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

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Windows were blown out, over 20 car windows smashed and at least one person was injured as a suspected freak mini-tornado ripped through West Sussex towns...

 

If a tornado did that to a brick wall there's nothing mini about it, would be at least f3. Why the media wants to use mini every five minutes about anything is beyond me, and yet they still call the 87 storm a flipping hurricane.

[SouthwestChaser]

4 hours ago, Andy Bown said:

Oh dear. ‘Freak’ and ‘mini tornado’ !!

Yes, and the "mini tornado" and "lightening" came apparently just days after Britain was completely destroyed by Hurricane Lee (which was over 2000 miles away near Canada and still is).  

[alexisj9]

1 minute ago, SouthwestChaser said:

Yes, and the "mini tornado" and "lightening" came apparently just days after Britain was completely destroyed by Hurricane Lee (which was over 2000 miles away near Canada and still is).  

What they gonna say when hurricane Lee and Margaret come close later next week, together pmsl. I think they just make things up.

[biddie]

12 hours ago, Aiden2012 said:

Nice to see lighting skipped my area again

It wasn't really forecast in your area 

[Zak M]

Only strike I caught was in the thumbnail but I'm happy regardless :)

[Stormhog]

7 hours ago, Supacell said:

@sunnijim Thank you for the recommendation. One of the problems with travelling outside my normal radius is having no idea where the best viewpoints are. Thats why I tend to like the coast, as you can't fail to get at least a 180 view from there

@Tamsin Indeed it ended up being much more widespread and spreading much further north than I anticipated. I think only the UKV model broke out widespread convection like what happened, but on an earlier run that was then replaced with a Kent clipper . The storm I saw is very likely the same storm that passed over you. It was fantastic for number of flashes and constant thunder.

@Flash bang flash bang etc Your account sounds similar to mine, with the exception of being blasted by rain and wind. I too was unable to see much at the back end of the storm, although that was mainly because I had soaked trousers and trainers so had to spend sometime getting changed . As you say, storms then erupted further north and out of reach.

Regarding a tornado in Littlehampton. The storms looked to be elevated and so I think a tornado is unlikely. I'm no expert but it was much more likely damage from straight line winds. Some of the gusts were quite ferocious as the storm came over.

When the straight line wind hits...time to take cover. Came in very strong at Seaford last night and put an end to any photography, we just made it to the car before the lashing rain hit. My friend couldn't drive for the first few minutes and cars were pulling over.

[clark3r]

Just viewing my videos from last night, still can’t get how frequent the lighting was. This must have been roughly the same time as the littlehampton  tornado

[congerball]

1 hour ago, alexisj9 said:

If a tornado did that to a brick wall there's nothing mini about it, would be at least f3….

Not if my mate built it  

[Iceman2606]

Nearby Overnight Thunderstorm - Northamptonshire, UK - 18 September 2023

 

[Supacell]

51 minutes ago, Stormhog said:

When the straight line wind hits...time to take cover. Came in very strong at Seaford last night and put an end to any photography, we just made it to the car before the lashing rain hit. My friend couldn't drive for the first few minutes and cars were pulling over.

I imagine it was very similar conditions there as in Worthing. Standing under a shelter was no use in horizontal rain.

[alexisj9]

2 hours ago, alexisj9 said:

What they gonna say when hurricane Lee and Margaret come close later next week, together pmsl. I think they just make things up.

Our itv forecast national, is blaming Lee for tomorrow's and Wednesdays heavy rain. It's miles away, I don't get it.

[Rufus Butterfield]

Aww man I feel like a missed out a bit last night cause there definitely were some recorded strikes in the Lincoln area at 4am. I was just so tired from going out that evening 

[80sWeather]

13 hours ago, East_England_Stormchaser91 said:

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. 

The storm really got going once it edged away from here towards North Cambs. Not seen lightning that frequent for many years.

I was driving my missus mad jumping out of bed looking out of the windows

[Southern Storm]

22 hours ago, Alderc 2.0 said:

5 & 9. My 9 is loving it. My little girl not so sure lol.

I'm glad one of your kids was enjoying the storm and hopefully  the other will grow to like them as time goes on

unfortunately my two girls 9 &12 are really scared of storms, mainly because of one they witnessed last month while in France, before that they didn't mind them too much 

I was back in the UK so I didn't get to experience it, but my mother in-law said it was one of the worst she'd ever seen, so it must have been bad, I'm gutted that I missed but even more gutted it's traumatized both my daughters

[WeatherArc]

Going off recent model output, i don't think storm season is over just yet. GFS trying to get the 15 degree isotherm into most of the UK around late September/early october. 12z had temps peak in the mid 20s, would probably be some decent instability around when combined with the above average sea surface temps. 

Just for fun as 300 hours out but the 12z also had some very interesting hodographs across the Uk with moderate cape (600 j/kg)

[TJS1998Tom]

2 hours ago, Rufus Butterfield said:

Aww man I feel like a missed out a bit last night cause there definitely were some recorded strikes in the Lincoln area at 4am. I was just so tired from going out that evening 

I wish I stayed awake a little longer as well, a few about in Lincoln but I'm certain there would've been more, just elevated

[Mcconnor8]

What do we make of this for Wednesday afternoon on the UKV? It carries on for the rest of the day progressing East as well.

Edited September 19, 2023 by Mcconnor8

[Tamsin]

If shoulder seasons end up being the new storm seasons for the UK I'm totally cool with that 

[WeatherArc]

45 minutes ago, Mcconnor8 said:

What do we make of this for Wednesday afternoon on the UKV? It carries on for the rest of the day progressing East as well.

I haven't looked at Wednesday that much but at first glance MLcape charts aren't great unfortunately, probs max of 500 j/kg? As cape is sub 800 it will likely be a case of a squall line or heavy rain with a few embedded thunderstorms, producing a couple of CCs (if lucky) before they use up all available energy and die. Probably some squally winds and heavy rain though. 

Looking at GFS its pretty much the same picture, decent hodograph (no inflow though)  but profile is very saturated and convection will be quite shallow with the EL height being below 6km. Lapse rates also aren't great unfortunately. 

Will keep an eye on it but sadly it just looks like a classic autumn cold front rather than anything thundery. 

 

[Supacell]

Here is my video from the storms on Sunday night

 

 

[Windblade]

21 hours ago, alexisj9 said:

Perhaps it was what storms were had, the old French mcs that came over here was actually weird for wind, it scared me actually, blowing quite strong one way, then blowing the opposite way, couldn't see anything other than what way the rain was blowing, but it didn't mess about.

French imports are the best!  They are often mcs in nature and quite powerful if they make it here. Yeah, it was weird having hardly any wind while other people have had really strong wind. Every storm is different though, that's what makes them so special. I haven't had a night time storm for two years so really appreciated the one we had early yesterday morning. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Windblade

[ChannelThunder]

15 hours ago, Southern Storm said:

I think Nikon have released a camera that is constantly buffering in the background which is almost perfectly suited to photographing lightning, when a bolt appears in the frame you just have to press the shutter to save the image  

I honestly don't know how I feel about it as it seems like cheating, but then again we are delt a crappy hand in this country with the amount of storms we get, so it probably evens it up a little 

That's definitely cheating! If you're not battling a remote shutter while also battling the elements, your tripod, focus, composition & settings, it'd almost feel too easy!