Earliest Thundery Plume?

[ZONE 51]

Now we have entered March im getting the good feelings of spring , the bulbs, the buds and the mixed weather it brings to the UK, now im here i am rather excited (as many of you are to) about the chances of thunderstorms increasing, the sun warming up and with ground heating giving a helping hand the risk is higher, but im most interested in when was the earliest thundery plume and how long do we have to wait for the risk. Thanks.

[Coast]

Now we have entered March im getting the good feelings of spring , the bulbs, the buds and the mixed weather it brings to the UK, now im here i am rather excited (as many of you are to) about the chances of thunderstorms increasing, the sun warming up and with ground heating giving a helping hand the risk is higher, but im most interested in when was the earliest thundery plume and how long do we have to wait for the risk. Thanks.

I guess it depends how things continue to warm up. I suspect we have at least another month to 6 weeks before we can start looking seriously.

[MP-R]

I think recently the earliest plume was April 15th 2009? Correct if I'm wrong.

Before then I think we have better chances of thunderstorms with colder airmasses such as rPm or Pm. Usually more weather with those too with the chance of hail, snow, strong winds and squalls.

[A.J]

I think recently the earliest plume was April 15th 2009? Correct if I'm wrong.

Before then I think we have better chances of thunderstorms with colder airmasses such as rPm or Pm. Usually more weather with those too with the chance of hail, snow, strong winds and squalls.

I remember it well....breakfast time thunderstorms over the west midlands that had developed & drifted up from the south in the wee small hours

[Summer of 95]

April 15th 2009 gave thunder and lightning here, one of the last times I can remember seeing lightning. However I can vaguely remember an early-morning thunderstorm in Feb or Mar, sometime around 1989 or 1990. It broke out around 6-7am, and woke everybody up.

[Thundery wintry showers]

If you're talking 1989 or 1990, it's probably more likely to have been from an active Atlantic system or heavy showers in a polar maritime flow, as February 1990 and the second half of February 1989 both had an exceptionally boisterous Atlantic with above average thundery activity. March 1990 had a couple of very warm southerly incursions but I don't recall coming across any thunder reports.

A near-approach occurred as recently as March 2010 (25th if I remember rightly) when a warm southerly plume brought scattered thunderstorms into the far southeast of the country. There was a more obvious example of a southerly incursion on the 1st/2nd April 2001 which was followed by scattered thunderstorms.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/2010/Rrea00120100325.gif

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/ra/2001/Rrea00120010402.gif

[Coast]

Not sure if this is from a member here:

[MP-R]

I also now remember there was a thunderstorm overnight 2nd/3rd April 2002 from a plume'ish' setup with a low just out to the west.

[Coast]

I also now remember there was a thunderstorm overnight 2nd/3rd April 2002 from a plume'ish' setup with a low just out to the west.

Courtesy: http://www.eots.co.uk/gallery/thunder/page5/thunderstorms5.htm

[ZONE 51]

I am going to dig out my weather diary's, going back to the 90s, their day to day recordings,so if we had storm imports then i would have noted it down, on big events i would have basically written a story on it and drew pictures of the lightning i saw(especially at night)! il let you know.

[Weather-history]

There was a warm pulse of southerly air at the back end of March 1923 that trigger some thunderstorms across England.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/slp/1923/Rslp19230326.gif

Here's a very early season pulse of very warm upper air

[vortex_liam]

Humm, intresting stuff. Its a waiting game

[conor123]

There was a warm pulse of southerly air at the back end of March 1923 that trigger some thunderstorms across England.

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/pics/archive/slp/1923/Rslp19230326.gif

Here's a very early season pulse of very warm upper air

Jesus that's some seriously warm uppers for the end of February.

I certainly remember the April 2009 thunderstorms as i was out camping and packing away in the morning got absolutely soaked to death after just drying off from heavy showers over night.

[Bluebreezer54]

My memory is failing me these days but I can recall a particularly thundery April in the 1990's, here in the London area at least. I remember it only for the fact I was working outside, and it seemed like we were rained off for days, and it was very thundery rain. Can anyone help provide some more information please ?

[Thundery wintry showers]

You are probably remembering April 1998 which had 7 days of thunder at Heathrow Airport. It was one of the wettest Aprils on record except in some western areas. The first third of the month was characterised by slow-moving low pressure and mostly cloudy weather with lively thundery showers especially in the south. The middle third had a northerly outbreak which brought sunshine and snow showers to the north and dull weather with longer outbreaks of rain/sleet at times to the south, which also affected parts of northern England on the 10th and 16th/17th. Thunder occurred widely in southern areas on the 10th, in the returning polar maritime airmass to the south of the band of rain & sleet over N England. The last third had frequent southerly and south-westerly winds and slow-moving thundery downpours across much of the country.

Don't think thunderstorms during that event were scattered, nor did they occur exclusively in the far south-east. Infact, if I remember rightly showers and thunderstorms that day were rather organised over parts of central-southern England (as well as southeastern England) along and just ahead of the cold front, forming in a somewhat undefined line.

...

Well pointed out- my memories of these events aren't always bulletproof! I think my misconception might have arisen from the fact that the areas of storms that looked like they could hit Norwich that day stayed confined to the far SE and I must have forgot about the storms that occurred elsewhere.

[ZONE 51]

I would be shocked if we had another non-import Storm season this year, its usually something we get at some point with night or early hrs storms from France being the usual (and of course the best) case. last year i think we had some plume air at times but as we know the channel kept the storms, i want to do lighting photography this year with my 35mm slr using long exposure(Bulb mode) ,couldn't do that last year as nothing turned up!

[vortex_liam]

Yeah they kept goign across the north coast of france DAmn french

[Jane Louise]

Yes, I'd love a plume this year. I have a new camera and I would love to take some lightning shots for the first time. The last Spanish plume I remember here was back in 2006 I think.

[vortex_liam]

Back in 2007 for me , not had a decent thunder storm since 2009. I miss them days when we got them. I hope this year will be better

[chapmanslade]

Wait no more !

I think the Saturday morning storms in the South West / Wales were our first plume event even if modest compared to a full on Summer event.

[Slowpoke]

There was a warm pulse of southerly air at the back end of March 1923 that trigger some thunderstorms across England.

http://www.wetterzen...slp19230326.gif

Here's a very early season pulse of very warm upper air

What were the temperatures like around the UK that day?

[Slowpoke]

Still cannot find records for that day

[ZONE 51]

1960

A very wet summer and autumn. July 1960 to February 1961 was exceptionally wet, with much flooding, particularly in the West and especially Devon. It was the wettest autumn on record for much of southern England. The longest sequence of consecutive warmer-than-average months (17) ended with July.

January. Slightly cooler than average. There were some heavy snowfalls midmonth across the south. A blizzard closed the east coast railway in Scotland on th 18-19th, with 1 m drifts.

February. Near average, but the first in a sequence of 17 consecutive warmer-than-average months. Nevertheless there were two heavy snowfalls in the north midmonth. It was very warm at the end of the month, with 17.8C recorded at Herne Bay.

March. Quite average.

April. On the mild side.

May. Started cold, but warm weather spread south. On the 2nd it was only 6C in London but 16C in Edinburgh. A warm spell followed.

June. Warm and sunny overall, but with a cool, changeable second week. The final in a sequence of 17 consecutive warmer-than-average months. There was a hot spell after midmonth, and on the 18th, 32C was reached locally (e.g. Wyton). There were some violent thunderstorms on the nights of the 22-23 and 23-24, after a hot spell. It was 28.9C at Morecombe and 28.3C at Rhyl on the 22nd. There were 8 hours of continuous thunder in the West Midlands overnight on the 22-23. East Anglia was particularly affected on the 23-24th. 100 mm of rain fell in just over 5 hours at Duns Tew Manor in Oxfordshire on the on the 23rd, and 75 mm overnight in Suffolk. The lightning was particularly prominent: there were over 7000 strokes at Woolhampton (Berks.) between 1.45 am and 6.45 am on the 23rd. There were two lightning-related deaths.

July. Rain fell every day over the Pennines. This month there were 303 mm at Darwen (Lancs.), and 235 mm at Princetown (Dartmoor), as five substantial depressions crossed the country.

August. Unsettled: cool and wet with frequent thunderstorms. A thunderstorm gave 41 mm of rain near Southsea on the 2nd. 85 mm at Monkmoor (Shrops.), and 82 mm in two hours at Old Malden (Surrey). 40 hours of rain fell at Brighton between the 9th-11th, giving 125 mm of rain, as two depressions passed by; it was cold, too. More thunder midmonth, with 25 mm in 15 minutes at Harlech on the 13th, and 56 mm at Cleethorpes on the 14th. A thousand foot high waterspout spotted near the Isle of Sheppey on the 18th. Heavy frontal rain in Northern Ireland on the 24th; 150 mm fell at Coleraine (Northern Ireland) in 24 hours; then there were 50 mm of rain across much of northern Scotland on the 25th, with 91 mm at Forres. There were golf-ball sized hailstones on the 26th that damaged the tomato crop in Jersey. The only warm spell saw temperatures of 25C in the east on the 22nd.

September. Heavy rain in the SW on the 28th, with flooding. On the 30th, Exeter was almost cut off.

October. Quite a month, with some severe thunderstorms. Dull and very wet (the second wettest of the century). Low pressure dominated the first week, but with some warm, humid spells in the sun: 21C at Maldon (Essex) on the 6th. There was some serious flooding, at its most severe in Devon. In the five days ending on the 2nd Teignmouth had 175 mm of rain. There were 60 mm in 2 hours near Lyme Regis on the 2nd. Two notable spells of flooding in the Exeter region, on the 6th and 26/27th. More heavy rain in the SW in the following week; nearly a 1000 houses flooded in Exmouth on the 6th. There was a severe thunderstorm gave Horncastle (Lincs.): 184 mm in 5 1/2 hours on the 7th between midday and 6pm: 178mm fell in 3 hours, with most of the rain falling between 2.30 and 4 pm - this is the highest know 3 hour rainfall total in the UK. The result was severe flooding: 100 homes were flooded, a man drowned, and many shops were damaged. Four miles away at Revesby reservoir the fall was 162 mm. More thunderstorms later in the week: 103 mm at Luxborough (Somerset) on the 8th, and 87 mm at Danby Lodge (North Yorks.) on the same day. There was widespread flooding in the south. The second week was drier, with cold and sunny weather in parts. Prolonged easterly winds on the other hand gave the north and west of Scotland a particularly dry month. From the 17th there was more heavy rain, followed by thundery showers. Aberdeen managed only 12 minutes sunshine from the 18-31st. More rain in the SW on the 26-27th, as rivers rose to their highest level this century, leading to further extensive flooding. There was a total of 314mm of rain at Exeter, three times the average.

November. The very wet autumn continued with a wet November. 175 mm widespread across the country; 624 mm in Snowdonia. It was very dry in the NW of Scotland again, however. As is often the case with very wet months, it was a relatively sunny month.

December. Flooding in South Wales on the 3rd following heavy rain, with 152 mm falling on the Brecon Beacons.

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Edited April 16, 2011 by ElectricSnowStorm