Stormy Weather

[Serial_Apologist]

I must have missed it (or forgotten about it!) Still hours away until it hits. Anyway, just looked out and the skies have cleared so I'm off hunting Perseids!

The lightning over the Channel would be distantly visible from the S coast by now.

[BBMmk2]

Had a couple of claps of thunder this morning around 04.30-05.00am. Otherwise torrential rain for the next hour! Think it's started to rain again! :(

[BBMmk2]

DONNER UND BLITZEN! Blimey!

[Nick Armstrong]

DONNER UND BLITZEN! Blimey!

Wow yes... http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime ... Nothing up here ... yet !!

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes - apart from a few flashings around BBM right now, the main storm area seems to have migrated north to be centred over the Medway towns, which I know to be prone to flooding, so I hope it's less bad than its looks. Here it only started raining properly 20 minutes ago, but only moderate rain, despite becoming dark enough to have to turn on the light to register the 12 noon temperature of 18 C.

No thunder yet, but with this very low cloud base (low enough to cover the C Palace mast) it's difficult to see what's going on higher up, where all the action really is, in order to make predictions for the Proms queuers!

[Anna]

And here we've had - absolutely nothing! There was a distant rumble at 5am so I got up and checked the map and could see BBM was getting some but it was pretty obvious by then that the storm was moving along the Channel and hitting the South coast. Now I see there's been some bad flooding where he is plus Eastbourne, Brighton and into Kent and an upgrade to amber warning. We are still promised rain some time this afternoon with a yellow warning but it seems (if it does arrive) that tomorrow will be the worst day here with non-stop rain. It's feeling quite heavy, 18°, not particularly thick cloud but wind getting up.
Glad I went out meteor gazing, not the greatest show as still a few light wisps of cloud but a goodly number spotted whizzing by (I think still visible until the 24th?)

[Serial_Apologist]

And here we've had - absolutely nothing! There was a distant rumble at 5am so I got up and checked the map and could see BBM was getting some but it was pretty obvious by then that the storm was moving along the Channel and hitting the South coast. Now I see there's been some bad flooding where he is plus Eastbourne, Brighton and into Kent and an upgrade to amber warning. We are still promised rain some time this afternoon with a yellow warning but it seems (if it does arrive) that tomorrow will be the worst day here with non-stop rain. It's feeling quite heavy, 18°, not particularly thick cloud but wind getting up.
Glad I went out meteor gazing, not the greatest show as still a few light wisps of cloud but a goodly number spotted whizzing by (I think still visible until the 24th?)

There was a lot of thunder here, muffled by very low scud cloud from the NE coming off the N Sea between 1 and 2 pm, but rain no heavier than moderate. I only spotted one flash of lightning, a single cloud/ground stroke a couple of miles northeast of here that produced the one substantial clap. Then weak sunshine started to break through so I took a short circular walk through the woods. The air felt like a shower bath, and saturated enough for mist to be forming among the trees - very ghostly. While out, a concentrated little storm cell producing incessant lightning over Amiens that I'd noticed on the live lightning map had sort of spread sideways to the north west and south east. It now forms a complete chain running all the way up to Calais and down the Rhone Valley to the Med - a textbook squall line, probably fed by the very hot air right across France at the moment. I'm watching to see the storms that formed the earlier line from Dungeness to London were part of what the scientists call a line of convective potential, which would have enabled that little storm over Amiens to spread laterally in the way it has, because if so, then the two bits might link up, providing a bridge across the Channel just about where the Chunnel is which, in turn, will bring in more storms to affect this same area in 2-3 hours or so, drenching the poor Prommers as they queue! It certainly doesn't feel as though the earlier storm we had has cleared the air.

EDIT: This is extraordinary. The storm I mentioned as having started at Amiens, north of Paris, has now spread out right along the French side of the France/Belgium border, like some meteorological Maginot Line, ending at the Channel as if someone had put buffers on it! These aren't surface-convective storms in the usual sense of cumulus rising over locally heated land into cumulonimbus. If they had been, they would not have been able to generate over the southern North Sea, as they were earlier on: they are associated with an upper convergence trough between different air masses at about 8,000 feet. I assume the Ardennes must be acting as some sort of barrier. I must check and see if there are still any amateur weather observer websites for discussing this sort of thing, which there were before I got interested in this particular forum.

[mangerton]

I've not been on here much recently - nothing much to say. Sorry to see the t & l in the south east of England. In these parts, it's been lovely, with yesterday and today being two of the best days of the summer. I'm on leave this week, and spent yesterday in Edinburgh, mostly walking around taking in the sights and activity of the Festival and Fringe.

Here it was a superb night for Perseid spotting last night, but living where I do, light pollution renders it almost impossible.

And yes, thanks to s_a for that link. Most interesting.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've not been on here much recently - nothing much to say. Sorry to see the t & l in the south east of England. In these parts, it's been lovely, with yesterday and today being two of the best days of the summer. I'm on leave this week, and spent yesterday in Edinburgh, mostly walking around taking in the sights and activity of the Festival and Fringe.

Here it was a superb night for Perseid spotting last night, but living where I do, light pollution renders it almost impossible.

And yes, thanks to s_a for that link. Most interesting.

It's been good to see you contributing to various discussions on the forum again after some while, Mangerton, and I hope and trust all is well. It's easy to forget that it was your good self who started this thread. We all miss salymap, and wonder how she now is.

[Anna]

EDIT: This is extraordinary. The storm I mentioned as having started at Amiens, north of Paris, has now spread out right along the French side of the France/Belgium border, like some meteorological Maginot Line, ending at the Channel as if someone had put buffers on it! These aren't surface-convective storms in the usual sense of cumulus rising over locally heated land into cumulonimbus. If they had been, they would not have been able to generate over the southern North Sea, as they were earlier on: they are associated with an upper convergence trough between different air masses at about 8,000 feet. I assume the Ardennes must be acting as some sort of barrier. I must check and see if there are still any amateur weather observer websites for discussing this sort of thing, which there were before I got interested in this particular forum.

Goodness me!! I've just looked at that, it is indeed truly amazing! (have you taken a screenshot for future reference?) S_A, please do, if you find some info on the web, let us know what's causing this what seems to be a very odd situation - it's fascinating.

[Serial_Apologist]

Goodness me!! I've just looked at that, it is indeed truly amazing! (have you taken a screenshot for future reference?) S_A, please do, if you find some info on the web, let us know what's causing this what seems to be a very odd situation - it's fascinating.

V. disappointing search, Anna. This being the best I could find:

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php

Might have another look later.

[Flay]

It certainly looks mad over Antwerp!

http://www.hzs.be/webcam/

(That must be a view over the river Scheldt)

[BBMmk2]

There was flooding in some parts of my town yesterday, some more tonight.

[Serial_Apologist]

There was flooding in some parts of my town yesterday, some more tonight.

There has been a lot more rain here today than was officially predicted. With three, yes three frontal systems making their way eastwards across the country at a slow walking pace, I didn't think we'd get away with it. I've spent much of today looking at that stormchasers' website I linked to on #14546, and enjoying the reports of the storms from various places affected yesterday. Thre are some great cloud and lightning photos to be found elsewhere on it. I'd recommend this site to fellow weather enthusiasts - it's not imo too nerdy, and most of the language used can be roughly understood by the non-scientifically trained autodidact such as me, or inferred rather the way a French speaker would fill gaps in a text in Italian. (Spherics f.ex. are atmospherics, as picked up by radar etc.; MCS is a Mesoscale Convective System, a term describing a large thunderstorm system).

[BBMmk2]

There has been a lot more rain here today than was officially predicted. With three, yes three frontal systems making their way eastwards across the country at a slow walking pace, I didn't think we'd get away with it. I've spent much of today looking at that stormchasers' website I linked to on #14546, and enjoying the reports of the storms from various places affected yesterday. Thre are some great cloud and lightning photos to be found elsewhere on it. I'd recommend this site to fellow weather enthusiasts - it's not imo too nerdy, and most of the language used can be roughly understood by the non-scientifically trained autodidact such as me, or inferred rather the way a French speaker would fill gaps in a text in Italian. (Spherics f.ex. are atmospherics, as picked up by radar etc.; MCS is a Mesoscale Convective System, a term describing a large thunderstorm system).

MCS for short! :)

Thanks S, will look that up. Hoping today be better!

Sumer is a'cumin in laude sing cuckoo! Hmmmm................