SNOW_JOKE

Not bad being able to see a possible Supercell over mid-Wales from here in the Peak District, just been out looking Eastwards at towers rising and falling whilst meanwhile this was developing to my other side.

I'm seeing 2 big CU towers going up way off into the distance from here, looking East/SouthEast somewhere around the Derby/Sheffield areas.

MetO are going for some heavy showers forming in the north Midlands anytime between now and 6am, i'm not sure if it'll be worth staying up that late just to see but i'm hoping the sunrise soon will show some nice AcCas formations around. UK weather forecast map - Met Office WWW.METOFFICE.GOV.UK Met Office 5 day weather forecast map for UK including weather warnings, temperature, rain, wind speed, cloud, and pressure.

Strike from the cell over Congleton, just seen it visually.

That was pretty amazing, I thought i'd have a late wander on the field just to see if I could spot any lightning and the cells from N.Wales up to Lancs were lit up like a christmas tree even from here. Hopefully i've managed to capture a few sferics even from this far away with the Nikon.

I was up at Bowstones round the back of Lyme Park around 7pm hoping to intercept the would-have-been Birmingham storm as it approached the Peak District but alas it fizzled into nothing. through the haze and murk there was some AcCas towers still around but visibility was limited and I called it quits at 9:30pm when it became clear that neither overhead storm or distant lightning was going to be seen. At least the sunset was good and I managed to get a hour's driving done in the new car.

Just a bit of drizzle on the NW Radar, although if convection is forecast to be explosive then it could already be towering and firing off sferics with evaporation rain not quite making it to the surface just yet. EDIT - and there it is

Any estimates on timings for us in the NW? i'm thinking of heading out in the car to a few vantage points around Macc/Buxton but I haven't been able to get a rough estimate of when anything is due to initiate for this evening.

Its looking good for where I am and it'll be the first proper test of the pumps down at Toddbrook Res if those rainfall rates come to fruition.

Hearing the same thing here too, heat-lightning maybe?

The difference in magnitude is more obvious from last night than it was last week as it took until around 11:30pm to finally see it naked-eye here and even then it was diffuse and needed averted vision. Unless it unexpectedly flares I think last night would have been our last proper view of Neowise without requiring long-exposure shutter cameras before it's forecast to drop further to around magnitude 3-4 on the 23rd. Its been great seeing this unexpected sight in the summer skies especially after the last 3 which were promising failed to deliver, and hopefully it's not too long before the next one.

There's also a ionized tail with Neowise i've seen from a few other images but it's extremely faint and only evident by using stacking which is a bit more technical than i'm used to. A slight possibility in the next day or two is the debris-tail being interrupted by a CME the results of which may give some motion but weather-wise for observations it's not looking good all week, so-long as it's dry and clear on the 22nd this Comet I believe is only going to get better.

A nice gap in the clouds tonight allowed just enough time to find Neowise again and grab some more snaps, considering the forecast isn't looking too great all week I thought i'd spend the 30 minute weather-window available simply looking at the Comet and soaking in the atmosphere before the clouds rolled in.

Machholz I do remember seeing as it passed close to the Beehive Cluster in January 2005 although I mustn't have gotten that on camera as DSLR's were unaffordable for someone of my age at the time. I do have a pic of ISON in 2013 although it's a basic amateur attempt using a small Olympus 'pocket camera' and its only just visible to the right-hand side of Hawkhurst Stone up on Whaley Bridge Moor, back when I was just starting out learning how to frame images at the time.

In 2007 we also had C/2006 P1 (McNaught) which, if I remember correctly, was a just about visible daytime Comet before it transitioned to the Northern Hemisphere and for some fortunate few who didn't have clouds in the UK gave a brilliant display with a long 'striped' tail on the horizon. I should look back on past Comets visible from the UK since Hale-Bopp as I remember seeing a few early-dawn twilight ones using the 90/1200 Telescope so i'm definitely in the same numbers of seeing at least 7 or 8, but Hale-Bopp, Holmes, and Neowise are definitely the 3 that'll be fixed in my memory. And to think with Neowise the peak isn't until July 22nd when it'll be closest to Earth, albeit 400x Lunar Distances away, but a even better observation target being higher and brighter than it is now.