Storms and Convective Discussion - 25th June 2019 onwards

[Mitch the motorbike storm]

1 minute ago, Flash bang flash bang etc said:

But... but... but.... it’s you who decided to stormchase or stay in or whatever you’ve chosen to do.

Go on a day out if you want, don’t blame hardworking forecasters for making you miss a good time. Storms do what the fuDGE they want

aye unlike the storms, this chat is charged up, ha get it... no,,, okay ha

[Allseasons-Si]

Look at the developments in the SE,W of London.

[LightningLover]

Who's ready for a relatively verbose story/summary of my events today? If not, then too bloomin' bad; It's coming anyway!

So at around 17:45, I arrived upon Bexhill Beach. As expected, it was packed. And I mean packed. I had an unobstructed view of the English Channel, and at this time, the sky over the sea was tinged grey. I sat down for a while, checking up on this forum, commenting on how it was to passers by, etc. By around 18:10, I heard the first deep. elevated growl of thunder. By this point, the sky was becoming increasingly dark, and the storm cells had just about up-scaled into an MCS, midway in the channel. The thunder I was hearing came from a nearby cell, initiated by the outflow boundary. At this point, I was becoming ever more excited. Skip forward to ~20 minutes later, and I had just seen my first CG: An orange, faint, split second flash way of to the South. I frantically reported this to the forum. And so... It began.

another 15 minutes passed, with a couple of faint IC flashes, when I saw my First CC bolt. Again, I reported this hastily to the forum, along with a photograph of the Anvil. and fallstreak/virga in the distance. It was quickly becoming apparent to me that this storm system was expanding rapidly. It gets darker... and darker... and darker. I was moving to another spot along the beach, when all of a sudden. a breeze picked up; 'Ah, this must be the gust front!' I thought. Oh, how flippin' wrong I was!

5 minutes later, all hell broke loose (a very specific form of hell in which wind is the dominant chaos causer) A warm. hairdryer gale ripped across the seafront, with gusts surely in excess of 60 mph. It was by far the strongest wind caused by convection that I have ever had the pleasure to witness. The sea went from being calm and blue, to a slate grey,crashing mess. The waves became very choppy! And whats even more incredible about this, is the fact that you could actually see the wind approaching, with the sea initially being choppy & grey on the horizon. At first, I just thought it was a standard MCS gust front, but then, I realized something: 'hmm this wind is rather warm, and is so dry it's burning my eyes and throat...', I pondered to myself, then it hit me: For the first ever time in my life, I was seeing the phenomenon known as a 'heat burst'. Even now, I feel truly privileged to have been able to experience such a breathtaking (figuratively and literally) event!

Now, once the wind stopped, I got a view of the true hidden beauty of this particular MCS. As I dared to look above me, fearing I'd get dust in my eyes, I saw the most incredible, well defined structure I believe I have ever seen on any from of convection; This description may not do it justice, but here it goes: A huge, sprawling anvil was present, a golden, grey colour, taking up the entire sky. It was speckled with undulating, almost perfectly rotund Mammatus. As well as this, there was an absolutely textbook. tremendous mesocyclonic form of structure above me, marked by stacking shelve-like arcus, along with a messy mixture of grey cloud. It had this rather captivating comma shape to it, too. All of this was so incredibly tremendous, that the moment no longer felt real.

Lightning, albeit rather infrequent (presumably due to the fact that it was elevated, and during the day). was still flashing away in spectacular fashion at this point, with various CGs and CC strikes occurring. So, out of a strange nervousness stemming from the unlikely possibility of getting struck, I seek shelter. It was then, then... the insane rainfall kicked in.

It came in absolutely gargantuan size raindrops. splatting against the ground with considerable force, and came in thick, tropical-style sheets. I stepped out into it, expecting to feel cold and regret my decision, but... It was WARM! this struck me as so bizarre. so this deluge trundled on for a good 15 minutes, before briefly ceasing long enough to catch my breath. then, something else rather strange happened: An extremely warm inflow occurred. It was actually warmer than the air surrounding it, which still makes very little sense to me.

shortly after this, the storm, after producing another 2 minute deluge, begins to depart, but not without giving us a show, in the form of my favourite kind of lightning: Anvil crawlers! As the back edge of the immense blue-purple mass of anvil guff sailed overhead, I witnessed some truly spectacular anvil crawlers, that, in some cases, seemingly stemmed from the Channel, and spider-webbed up into the system itself. Truly amazing, it was, to say the absolute least. At this point, all my breath had been promptly snatched from my lungs.

 

This took me a long time to type, but it was certainly worth it, as I believe it is an adequate description of the amazing MCS that I had the honor to witness today, And I always enjoy sharing my thoughts and experiences with other members. Just as A side note, I would like to say a huge thank you to all the kind strangers who are willing to chat with me about the storms! Not only did I get to meet a fellow Photographer and weather enthusiast (Not from this forum though- I did ask), along with some nice people who were also amazed by what they were witnessing.

This has been a truly exceptional spell of weather. I am so, so happy to have been able to share the roller coaster ride with everyone on here. It was been one heck of a journey indeed, one of copious amounts of sweat, among other things. I truly value everyone's knowledge on here, and i've learnt so much since I joined, and, consequently, it has helped me understand the technicality and mechanics behind this particular plume.

 

Now, enough rambling from me; It;s a bit warm outside, innit?  

Edited July 25, 2019 by LightningLover

[Mitch the motorbike storm]

REPORT

A THING IS COMING FROM THE CHANNEL

[Harry]

2 minutes ago, Allseasons-si said:

Look at the developments in the SE,W of London.

Where you looking @Allseasons-si?

There is lightning creeping down the Thames estuary and a surprising little clump of precip rapidly developing to my south

[TJS1998Tom]

Real Time Lightning picking up one or two strikes with these cells which seems to be pepping up, possibly caused by the cold front moving in? Might not result to much but could be worth keeping an eye on for some still

 

[Flash bang flash bang etc]

5 minutes ago, Mitch perrott said:

aye unlike the storms, this chat is charged up, ha get it... no,,, okay ha

Unlike my phone yikes!

[Zak M]

No words needed.

[Mitch the motorbike storm]

hmmm whats this then, a new cell heading north, i hope so!

Edited July 25, 2019 by Mitch perrott

[TJS1998Tom]

1 minute ago, zmstorm said:

No words needed.

Mannn I'd love to see a sight like that one day, great capture

[Aiden2012]

Watching a nice lighting show out to sea in Bridlington

[sjamess90]

1 minute ago, TJS1998Tom said:

Real Time Lightning picking up one or two strikes with these cells which seems to be pepping up, possibly caused by the cold front moving in? Might not result to much but could be worth keeping an eye on for some still

 

I think that might be the start of the cold front moving in, correct me if I'm wrong. 

[Frosty hollows]

27 minutes ago, Frosty hollows said:

Look at that system hugging the heat from the Norfolk coastline

I'll say it again.  Incredible

[Lewis1997]

1 minute ago, Mitch perrott said:

hmmm whats this then

Kent clipper.... again 

[Supacell]

I know it's too hot to sleep but please can we quit the bickering. Let's all enjoy our shared enjoyment of storms and agree that we won't always agree. If you want to complain about a lack of storms then please use the appropriate 'No storms' thread I have linked a few posts above.

Regarding the forecasts of storms. A forecast is just that, it is not a guarantee. Today's forecast was particularly complicated and the models were all over the place. I take my hat off to anyone who attempted to decipher the mess that was the models and make a forecast for today and tonight. Lets face it, the forecasters on these forums are not paid, they don't have to provide anything at all. As it happened, a supercell tracked through the region deemed at highest risk by most forecasts. 

[Allseasons-Si]

3 minutes ago, Harry said:

Where you looking @Allseasons-si?

There is lightning creeping down the Thames estuary and a surprising little clump of precip rapidly developing to my south

[Mitch the motorbike storm]

1 minute ago, Lewis1997 said:

Kent clipper.... again 

aye im in kent so no complaints from me, ill be watching this one!

[TJS1998Tom]

1 minute ago, sjamess90 said:

I think that might be the start of the cold front moving in, correct me if I'm wrong. 

Could be, hard to tell with there being a few false strikes around 

[Mitch the motorbike storm]

its been a long day without you my frienddddddd... when will i see you again ahhhhahhhahhahhhahhahhhweewweewoowoo(paul walker reference)

[summer blizzard]

2 minutes ago, sjamess90 said:

I think that might be the start of the cold front moving in, correct me if I'm wrong. 

No. Sat clearly shows this as a distinctive trough with the cold front west of it.

[Thunderstruck]

This all formed pretty quickly so there is still some energy around.... haven’t heard anything yet though

 

Edit: Yes I have heard something

Edited July 25, 2019 by Thunderstruck

[Ryukai]

6 minutes ago, TJS1998Tom said:

Real Time Lightning picking up one or two strikes with these cells which seems to be pepping up, possibly caused by the cold front moving in? Might not result to much but could be worth keeping an eye on for some still

 

 please aim for me, please aim for me, please aim for me

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

have now finished uploading all my storm videos from early Wednesday morning

 

[Lewis1997]

The cell near Halstead just produced a strike of lighting and then a rumble of thunder.... there’s still some energy left yet! 

[Mitch the motorbike storm]

new cell off the cost of france