Stormy Weather

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah well it's all for the best probably

I see there's a "fred" already started on the Cadogan prom - to which I've contributed my tuppence' worth of pontification...

[salymap]

Yes, all deep enough to drown in= I'll read your 'fred' in the morning when I hope my brain is working.

[cloughie]

Why on a wet Bank holiday Monday does the sun come out at 6.45pm - useful?

[Anna]

The Bank Holiday wasn't so bad, rain didn't really set in until about 7pm, yesterday was dry - all day!
Just about an hour ago, thunder, lightening and the most torrential rain which lasted for about 25 minutes, drains unable to cope, flash flood situation in the making. Not sure in which direction it veered off.

11pm Monday evening - what sounded like an explosion in the sky - but it was a sonic boom caused by a meteorite!! Gave me one hell of a fright, unfortunately I didn't see it (I was in bed!) but reports came in from Cornwall, S. Wales, Herefordshire, Shrewsbury, Lancs and as far as Glasgow, all confined to East side of country. It was evidently dazzlingly bright with tail and bits dropping off. It's been mapped on a meteor spotting website.

[Serial_Apologist]

Has everybody been swept away? The cold "frontal nose" passed through here at about 1.30 this afternoon, with winds I estimated at roughly equivalent strength to those currently pounding New Orleans, albeit only for about five minutes. (The temperature here dropped 6 degrees C during that bust of wind and rain, from 20 C to 14 C, btw).

I was only wondering, since the forum seems to have gone so quiet today...

[Serial_Apologist]

The Bank Holiday wasn't so bad, rain didn't really set in until about 7pm, yesterday was dry - all day!
Just about an hour ago, thunder, lightening and the most torrential rain which lasted for about 25 minutes, drains unable to cope, flash flood situation in the making. Not sure in which direction it veered off.

11pm Monday evening - what sounded like an explosion in the sky - but it was a sonic boom caused by a meteorite!! Gave me one hell of a fright, unfortunately I didn't see it (I was in bed!) but reports came in from Cornwall, S. Wales, Herefordshire, Shrewsbury, Lancs and as far as Glasgow, all confined to East side of country. It was evidently dazzlingly bright with tail and bits dropping off. It's been mapped on a meteor spotting website.

Here, it was kids letting off fireworks - 1 am!!!

[salymap]

Hello S_ A, reporting to Stormy Weather. Very wet here for several hours and thinking of an afternoon nap, as befits my age

The whole week seems like a Bank Holiday here, little local shops very quiet. I really must get down to the Barenboim Beethoven symphonies on the hard drive. Wish I could work up some enthusiasm.

[Anna]

S_A, if this link works it's the meteor hunting website (only reports from those who saw/heard it of course) cannot at the moment find the BBC news item about it. I said meteorite, but was it a meteor and the bits that fall to earth meteorites? I'm not very scientifically minded about such things.

http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/wales-uk-fireball-meteor-27aug2012.html

The rain I mentioned earlier, just looked at our local weather station and it was recorded at 90mm/hour, luckily it was short lived but I've not seen rain like that. Temperature also dipped from 16 to 13. Sun is out now .......... Were children letting off fireworks because of end of Notting Hill Carnival?

[Serial_Apologist]

Just about an hour ago, thunder, lightening and the most torrential rain which lasted for about 25 minutes, drains unable to cope, flash flood situation in the making. Not sure in which direction it veered off.

That shows up really well on the BBC local weather site,, Anna:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2641598

Click on "Observations" beneath the map, and you'll see a long bright yellow line passing NNE/SSW through Cardiff at 2 pm. And it had me thinking for a minute. A cold front with TWO squall lines more than 100 miles apart would be pretty unprecedented here - maybe not in the States. Then I checked the Met Office synoptic map for today 12 noon - always more detailed than the dumbed down maps the BBC seems to think suffice for the likes of us! - and, if you look, you will see a line without any semicircles or triangles on it, following closely behind the cold front crossing England.

http://www/metoffice.gov/public/weather/surface-pressure/

That line is what is known as a squall line, and they are often to be found following closely behind cold fronts where the succeeding airmass is much colder than that preceding the frontal passage.

[vinteuil]

I said meteorite, but was it a meteor and the bits that fall to earth meteorites? I'm not very scientifically minded about such things.
?

meteors and meteorites :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite

[Serial_Apologist]

Sorry - et office link has to be done this way, apparently:

http://www/metoffice.gov.uk

and click "Surface pressure maps" link at the bottom of page

Ach! That way doesn't appear to work either

But if you go back to my original link to the BBC weather site, go to the bottom of that page, and click on Met Office, that will get you through.

[Anna]

Vints, always a fount of knowledge! I'll read that in a moment.
S_A, following second link via BBC to Met, it gives me two black lines and a pink blobby one (cold front? If so it should be coloured blue) between them. So ... "A cold front with TWO squall lines more than 100 miles apart would be pretty unprecedented here" Why is it unprecedented and what does it mean?

[Serial_Apologist]

S_A, if this link works it's the meteor hunting website (only reports from those who saw/heard it of course) cannot at the moment find the BBC news item about it. I said meteorite, but was it a meteor and the bits that fall to earth meteorites? I'm not very scientifically minded about such things.

http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/wales-uk-fireball-meteor-27aug2012.html

The rain I mentioned earlier, just looked at our local weather station and it was recorded at 90mm/hour, luckily it was short lived but I've not seen rain like that. Temperature also dipped from 16 to 13. Sun is out now .......... Were children letting off fireworks because of end of Notting Hill Carnival?

Vinteuil's first link on #5095 shows your meteorite up well, Anna, (Thanks, Vints!)

I don't think those kids were marking the end of NH Carnival. They use our basement area for pornographic purposes at night from time to time, when the woods (where they're less likely to get disturbed) are only 3 minutes' walk away, so at 8 miles distant, Notting Hill would probably be outwith their geographical knowledge.

[marthe]

After days of "soupy" weather, we're having a taste of autumn today. The sun is bright, air cool, no humidity, crickets and cicadas are humming away. I'm looking forward to September and our mini-vacation in Vermont.

[Anna]

Having read vint's link - it was a fireball according to descriptions (flaming with a tail) but the sound was really loud and there were vibrations after but the link says it's not really a sonic boom. So would it have fallen to earth, slowly disintegrated or imploded into a shower of meteorites? I'm now worried about the two squall lines, combined with the meteorite, is this the end of the world?
(Surpised at the kids being a nuisance in your basement area S_A, Dulwich is really posh area with the College and everything isn't it?)