Convective/Storm Discussion Thread - 8th July onwards

[Mokidugway]

Some nice convective action around brum earlier this afternoons as I thundered past on train .

Edited July 10, 2017 by Mokidugway

[Delka]

Quick shower an hour ago passed overhead from The Wash.

[LightningLover]

Still no storms...

[Thunderstruck]

Wind just came up from nowhere and looks like a moderate shower is about to pass, but no sign of any storms. Bust. 

[Supacell]

Well I have finally managed to go through an edit my storm footage from Thursday evening after juggling it with work commitments. A bit late I know but here goes.

I started my chase late in the afternoon as showers started to develop over the Peak District. My hope was that they would turn thundery and so I worked out there likely track to be around Sheffield within the next hour. They didn't turn thundery, but rather fizzled out. By now I felt I was close enough to catch storms up that were tracking just north of Doncaster towards the Humber and so I headed up the M18 in pursuit. In actual fact, I could see the distant storm to my north from the M1 near to Sheffield and it looked quite photogenic by the time I reached Doncaster.

    

As I caught the storm up and core punched it there was some torrential rainfall and lots of spray and standing water on the M18. I saw a small number of lightning flashes but not as much as would be indicated by the radar and lightning detectors. It turns out that this cell was on its last legs and it died out soon after I had been through it. Even so, it was still producing the odd flash as it tracked towards the Humber. I chased it all the way to Hessle on the north bank of the Humber before then realising that most of the activity had now shifted to the opposite side of the river. 

    

In order to keep with the storms I crossed the Humber Bridge and headed south. A storm was already in progress around Barton upon Humber and so I drove through it. I saw a nice CG as I was driving down the A15. I finished up tracking these cells towards Immingham before they died a death also. Even so, I was able to get a few flashes and rumbles when I parked up near to Immingham.

    

Luckily for me, I appeared to have one more chance. Another batch of storms had broken out and looked to be heading slightly south once more, but this time I did not have to travel far to intercept them. Very soon, as I drove through Great Limber I could see a storm approaching with the odd feint flash of lightning. The storm looked particularly photogenic because it was now getting later in the evening and the sun was lowering in the sky.

I came to rest 5 miles west of Caistor and filmed the storm as it slowly approached. It was not a single storm but rather a messy complex of storms with lightning across the skyline in different directions. I would say the lightning was not particularly frequent, about one every minute, but it took a while for the storm to pass over and so I saw quite a few flashes, IC's and even a small number of CG's (although the best one dropped to my left and I did not catch it on camera).

     

      

As the storm moved away it appeared to strengthen somewhat to the north-east, and was heading in the direction of Louth. I ran back to my car and chased after it, but my camcorder was running out of battery so as I approached I could not film it. Instead I set my camcorder on charge in the hope I could get enough juice into it to film the storm when I caught it up. I ended up catching it up and turning the camera back on just in time to capture a fantastic pulsing CG bolt. As I then drove through this storm it produced some intense torrential rainfall and a few flashes of lightning. Again, they were not particularly frequent but the rainfall was impressive with very limited visibility in parts and there once again a lot of water and spray on the roads.

  

By the time I reached Louth this storm had also fizzled out. However, I was satisfied with all I had seen and decided as it was now 10pm and I had work in the morning that I would head home. I had not checked the radar for a while and so I thought I would check to see if the storms had re-intensified on the east coast. What I saw was that they had not, but a rash of thunderstorms were now on-going across Lincolnshire. A particularly strong storm was heading out of Grantham towards the Wash but this was too far away for me to reach. Of more interest to me were the storms heading towards Horncastle, which I estimated was a 20 minute drive away. The storms appeared to be about 40 minutes away and so I knew I could make it if tried. I was no longer heading home, but southwards in the direction of Horncastle.

As I approached the village of Winceby I was seeing frequent flashes lighting up the night sky to the west. I parked up and spent the next half hour watching the storm approach and move overhead. It seemed to be producing some decent lightning, with plenty of flashes and some decent bolts. Again though, as the storm moved over the bolts predominantly struck away from the camera, but there were some close flashes and very loud crashes of thunder. I was grateful I had managed to find an old farm building to shelter under, it allowed me to see the storm in its entirety without having to shelter inside the car from the rain.

         

I ended up getting home around 2am and had 3 hours sleep before work in the morning. It was worth being tired for though, the first proper successful storm chase since 15th/16th September last year. I am hoping there will be many more this season.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Supacell

[Martin Auld]

Thanks for an entertaining five minutes of reading Supacell.

[10 Days Away]

Well Estofex showing the possibility of something for the far south east today

http://www.estofex.org/

....."Current opinion based mainly on CAMs (AROME solution) is that a cluster of fast-moving storms will develop in SE England"

Edited July 11, 2017 by TN26

[Azazel]

After a fairly decent start to the season in May with a couple of flashes observed, its been another diabolical summer for storms in central southern England.

[Another Kent clipper]

Supacell

Nice bit of exploring supacell.  I thought I was stubborn to throw in the convective towel but you kept on to the bitter end got rewarded

[Windblade]

Very slim pickings today but as ever you can't rule anything out. Check out these darkening skies over tower hamelets a few minutes ago...

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Windblade

[Windblade]

12 hours ago, Supacell said:

Well I have finally managed to go through an edit my storm footage from Thursday evening after juggling it with work commitments. A bit late I know but here goes.

I started my chase late in the afternoon as showers started to develop over the Peak District. My hope was that they would turn thundery and so I worked out there likely track to be around Sheffield within the next hour. They didn't turn thundery, but rather fizzled out. By now I felt I was close enough to catch storms up that were tracking just north of Doncaster towards the Humber and so I headed up the M18 in pursuit. In actual fact, I could see the distant storm to my north from the M1 near to Sheffield and it looked quite photogenic by the time I reached Doncaster.

    

As I caught the storm up and core punched it there was some torrential rainfall and lots of spray and standing water on the M18. I saw a small number of lightning flashes but not as much as would be indicated by the radar and lightning detectors. It turns out that this cell was on its last legs and it died out soon after I had been through it. Even so, it was still producing the odd flash as it tracked towards the Humber. I chased it all the way to Hessle on the north bank of the Humber before then realising that most of the activity had now shifted to the opposite side of the river. 

    

In order to keep with the storms I crossed the Humber Bridge and headed south. A storm was already in progress around Barton upon Humber and so I drove through it. I saw a nice CG as I was driving down the A15. I finished up tracking these cells towards Immingham before they died a death also. Even so, I was able to get a few flashes and rumbles when I parked up near to Immingham.

    

Luckily for me, I appeared to have one more chance. Another batch of storms had broken out and looked to be heading slightly south once more, but this time I did not have to travel far to intercept them. Very soon, as I drove through Great Limber I could see a storm approaching with the odd feint flash of lightning. The storm looked particularly photogenic because it was now getting later in the evening and the sun was lowering in the sky.

I came to rest 5 miles west of Caistor and filmed the storm as it slowly approached. It was not a single storm but rather a messy complex of storms with lightning across the skyline in different directions. I would say the lightning was not particularly frequent, about one every minute, but it took a while for the storm to pass over and so I saw quite a few flashes, IC's and even a small number of CG's (although the best one dropped to my left and I did not catch it on camera).

     

      

As the storm moved away it appeared to strengthen somewhat to the north-east, and was heading in the direction of Louth. I ran back to my car and chased after it, but my camcorder was running out of battery so as I approached I could not film it. Instead I set my camcorder on charge in the hope I could get enough juice into it to film the storm when I caught it up. I ended up catching it up and turning the camera back on just in time to capture a fantastic pulsing CG bolt. As I then drove through this storm it produced some intense torrential rainfall and a few flashes of lightning. Again, they were not particularly frequent but the rainfall was impressive with very limited visibility in parts and there once again a lot of water and spray on the roads.

  

By the time I reached Louth this storm had also fizzled out. However, I was satisfied with all I had seen and decided as it was now 10pm and I had work in the morning that I would head home. I had not checked the radar for a while and so I thought I would check to see if the storms had re-intensified on the east coast. What I saw was that they had not, but a rash of thunderstorms were now on-going across Lincolnshire. A particularly strong storm was heading out of Grantham towards the Wash but this was too far away for me to reach. Of more interest to me were the storms heading towards Horncastle, which I estimated was a 20 minute drive away. The storms appeared to be about 40 minutes away and so I knew I could make it if tried. I was no longer heading home, but southwards in the direction of Horncastle.

As I approached the village of Winceby I was seeing frequent flashes lighting up the night sky to the west. I parked up and spent the next half hour watching the storm approach and move overhead. It seemed to be producing some decent lightning, with plenty of flashes and some decent bolts. Again though, as the storm moved over the bolts predominantly struck away from the camera, but there were some close flashes and very loud crashes of thunder. I was grateful I had managed to find an old farm building to shelter under, it allowed me to see the storm in its entirety without having to shelter inside the car from the rain.

         

I ended up getting home around 2am and had 3 hours sleep before work in the morning. It was worth being tired for though, the first proper successful storm chase since 15th/16th September last year. I am hoping there will be many more this season.

Beautiful shots. Punching the core was risky though (tornado's were forecast as "possible").

I find the uk road network frustrating to chase on, as the relentless war on any kind of speed whatsoever (rather than the root of the problem - bad driving), width restrictions, traffic lights, roadworks, congested roads etc really puts an end to any potential chase I might go on. I simply cannot travel fast enough to keep up with (and overtake when necessary) any storms, unless I take the bike, which then means I can't get under the storms and can only observe from a distance (plus you're still limited by the speed limit regardless, but can at least get through congestion a lot quicker). I don't know how you do it, but kudo's to you for a great chase and thank you for those lovely pictures.

I hope you have recovered from the lack of sleep!

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Windblade

[Supacell]

3 hours ago, Windblade said:

Beautiful shots. Punching the core was risky though (tornado's were forecast as "possible").

I find the uk road network frustrating to chase on, as the relentless war on any kind of speed whatsoever (rather than the root of the problem - bad driving), width restrictions, traffic lights, roadworks, congested roads etc really puts an end to any potential chase I might go on. I simply cannot travel fast enough to keep up with (and overtake when necessary) any storms, unless I take the bike, which then means I can't get under the storms and can only observe from a distance (plus you're still limited by the speed limit regardless, but can at least get through congestion a lot quicker). I don't know how you do it, but kudo's to you for a great chase and thank you for those lovely pictures.

I hope you have recovered from the lack of sleep!

Thank you Windblade.

The road network is frustrating, believe me there have been many a storm I have missed out on through being stuck in traffic. The ideal scenario are late evening and night time storms as the roads tend to be empty, although as you say you are still restricted on speed. I have never had a night time storm I have not been able to keep up with though, empty roads make it easier but daytime storms can be a nightmare. It also depends where in the country I am chasing. Lincolnshire is my favourite county to chase in as it is (a) local to me and (b) has a lot of open space with miles on miles of just fields and farmlands, this means that you can avoid the towns and cities.

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

1 hour ago, Supacell said:

Thank you Windblade.

The road network is frustrating, believe me there have been many a storm I have missed out on through being stuck in traffic. The ideal scenario are late evening and night time storms as the roads tend to be empty, although as you say you are still restricted on speed. I have never had a night time storm I have not been able to keep up with though, empty roads make it easier but daytime storms can be a nightmare. It also depends where in the country I am chasing. Lincolnshire is my favourite county to chase in as it is (a) local to me and (b) has a lot of open space with miles on miles of just fields and farmlands, this means that you can avoid the towns and cities.

Awesome chase summary and really good pics!

I found it so easy to park up in Essex and over near Camberley on thurs when I was chasing in that area - with the one exception of Essex where some bloke decided he wanted to park all of his cars on a private lane which would block me from getting out (almost as if out of principle to make me move on even though he himself was photographing the approaching storm). But it's definitely better chasing territory that a lot of the areas south of London, as it's generally flat land, unobstructed by hills and without the awkward and usually very congested roads of Surrey to deal with.

Unfortunately the further north I travel the further away from home I go (which will be slightly less of a problem when I sort out my van's sofa to accommodate a full-length sleeping bag for all-nighters!).

I'm always impressed with your determination and organisation when I read your storm chase reports - I'm more of a "panic, flap about a bit and end up going the wrong way on the M1" kind of chaser, so you're definately better suited to the task!

[TJS1998Tom]

Latest model updates are hinting a long spell of hot weather at the end of the month, 12z showing temps from 26-29 degrees lasting a good 7 days, Hopefully this will be our next chance of a proper thundery breakdown

[Justin123]

Any potential tonight ? 

[Supacell]

2 hours ago, Flash bang flash bang etc said:

Awesome chase summary and really good pics!

I found it so easy to park up in Essex and over near Camberley on thurs when I was chasing in that area - with the one exception of Essex where some bloke decided he wanted to park all of his cars on a private lane which would block me from getting out (almost as if out of principle to make me move on even though he himself was photographing the approaching storm). But it's definitely better chasing territory that a lot of the areas south of London, as it's generally flat land, unobstructed by hills and without the awkward and usually very congested roads of Surrey to deal with.

Unfortunately the further north I travel the further away from home I go (which will be slightly less of a problem when I sort out my van's sofa to accommodate a full-length sleeping bag for all-nighters!).

I'm always impressed with your determination and organisation when I read your storm chase reports - I'm more of a "panic, flap about a bit and end up going the wrong way on the M1" kind of chaser, so you're definately better suited to the task!

I could do with a van for my all-nighters, as I get older I am finding it more difficult to sleep on the back seat of a car!

Haha, thanks for that, I used to panic and flap when I first started but each year I learn more and technology gets better. When I first started storm chasing there was no internet on the move and so I was reliant on AM radio crackles, reading the clouds and listening to the hourly weather report on the local radio whilst driving. Still though, it isn't easy and rewards don't come that often, then again storms don't come that often.

[Vestan]

4 hours ago, TJS1998Tom said:

Latest model updates are hinting a long spell of hot weather at the end of the month, 12z showing temps from 26-29 degrees lasting a good 7 days, Hopefully this will be our next chance of a proper thundery breakdown

Well I'm going on holiday to Dorset for a week on the 21st so a week of hot weather and a few storms thrown in would be brilliant. Not heard a rumble since May 

[Another Kent clipper]

11 hours ago, Vestan said:

Well I'm going on holiday to Dorset for a week on the 21st so a week of hot weather and a few storms thrown in would be brilliant. Not heard a rumble since May 

You know you'll watch the towers of hope being built by the West country only to have funnels and all sorts break out behind your back in the Midlands.  It happened to me when I took an impulsive August trip to Bristol

[Dangerous55019]

After the dull grey wetness of yesterday, this afternoon has provided some surprisingly good convection. 

Unlikely to go bang around here, but still nice to see. 

[Mapantz]

Can we keep the European and other world countries convective topics to the relevant threads please? It's a real pet hate of mine to come in here, and see stuff that is not relative to this country.

[TJS1998Tom]

18z looks good for Thunderstorms next Wednesday

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

21 minutes ago, TJS1998Tom said:

18z looks good for Thunderstorms next Wednesday

Yep, I'm reading good things about next week's potential - even google weather's on board at the mo!

[LightningLover]

6 hours ago, TJS1998Tom said:

18z looks good for Thunderstorms next Wednesday

Lets hope the models stay this way until next Wednesday!

[Supacell]

6 hours ago, Mapantz said:

Can we keep the European and other world countries convective topics to the relevant threads please? It's a real pet hate of mine to come in here, and see stuff that is not relative to this country.

A few links to the relevant threads:

European

Worldwide

Let's keep this thread to UK based convection and storms please all  

[Norfolk Sheep]

On 11/07/2017 at 20:19, Supacell said:

I could do with a van for my all-nighters, as I get older I am finding it more difficult to sleep on the back seat of a car!

Haha, thanks for that, I used to panic and flap when I first started but each year I learn more and technology gets better. When I first started storm chasing there was no internet on the move and so I was reliant on AM radio crackles, reading the clouds and listening to the hourly weather report on the local radio whilst driving. Still though, it isn't easy and rewards don't come that often, then again storms don't come that often.

I'm still a flapper on occasion (plus internet on the move in Norfolk is like "really???" so I rely on phone comms with home - if Sir is awake anyway!). On the plus side I have a Vito so there's the added bonus of being able to rig a tripod inside plus a folding chair (see pic!) . I have some good park up places (all hard standing because we all know what the off road capabilities of an automatic van are like...)