North West Chaser

New Website- www.natureunleashed.co.uk

2011-03-25T21:16:00.003Z

Hey guys, I have a new site set up now so the north west chaser will no longer be in use.

Link to my new site is www.natureunleashed.co.uk

NEW SITE

2010-12-16T16:57:00.001Z

Hey guys, Sorry I havent been around in a while. Its because I have now got a new site called Nature Unleashed. Please use that one in future www.natureunleashed.wordpress.com I won be posting here any longer.

Thanks

Crazy Convection- 3 Different Counties

2010-09-21T19:05:00.001+01:00

Well I firstly want to apologise for the lack of updates recently. I am opening my own garage so I have been really busy with that and I havent had much time to update the site, to be honest over the past 10 days I have hardly checked the GFS which is highly unlike me.
Anyway...

I intend to make this account a little different to my normal accounts. As I have spent alot of time this year chatting to fellow chasers Martin McKenna and Paul Martin both of N.Ireland, I have asked them both to do a short account each of their recent weather events, such as the recent flooding and storms. They have both sent in great accounts so please read on...

September has been a month of mixed weather here in the NW. We have had some stormy weather with gale force winds, plenty of rain and a few days were Cb's have developed. Now the synoptics are showing high pressure is set to dominate the weather over the coming days so we are to expect some sunshine with warmer and drier weather, which is all good, but we are missing out on the main systems from the atlantic which usually affect the weather throughout autumn. This high pressure is actually set to force hurricane Igor up the E coast of the USA and Canada, if the high pressure wasnt there then the remnants of the hurricane would have hit us, giving us some decent storms no doubt... what us chasers would do for a good storm.

Well I had spent some time chatting to Martin Mckenna and Paul Martin, both storm chasers from N.Ireland on how much we would all enjoy one last summer chase before the autumn storms arrive. Martin and Paul had both experienced torrents of rainfall which caused rivers to burst their banks, flooding areas across the region so they both had been out taking images and video of the floods, but this still didnt quench their hunger for more t-storms.

Video of the flooding taken by Paul Martin

The GFS had been looking rather boring for a few days but it had been hinting that the 7th could produce a few storms across NW England, N.Ireland, SW England, Wales, Midlands, NE England, SE Scotland.

On the 7th september I decided to get a convective forecast on the site for two areas-
Area 1 NW England
Area 2 SW England, Wales, Midlands, N.Ireland, NE England, SE Scotland.

The GFS was hinting that the NW could have a better chance of storms as moisture was in the region of 1100j/kg with instability at -4 along with other factors which suited decent cell development.

I was up quite early on the 7th watching the sky as I wanted to know what was developing, where, and when! It started quite slow for me, I needed clear skies throughout the day to allow the sun to do its thing and heat up the surface ready for an explosive afternoon. However this didnt exactly go to plan as clouds rolled in throughout the morning, however, they never fully blocked out the sun and by midday a few towers were going up.

I was sat around waiting, watching the sky and watching the radar. I noticed a few intense showers making their way into Wales, and other showers becoming stronger across the different forecast regions but still none of them were close to hitting me. I decided to check the Sat images and the Sferic charts to see if I could see any cells forming which were not dropping rain. Eventually I saw a cell form across Cheshire to my S but its path was to go to far E of me.

Not having wheels has made this year a bad one as I have hardly been able to chase, I have spent my time storm spotting and watching as they have either just missed me or passed over me. If I had some wheels I would have been chasing these cells and getting into the thick of the action.

Sitting around was quite boring knowing other reachable regions had t-storms or heavy precip cells passing by, it was a hard blow to take, but as usual, I stuck at it, not willing to give up till the sun had set.

Eventually my patience paid off. The sky had cleared and the sun was boiling. The surface was warm and the atmosphere was unstable. Then a few clouds passed by and in the distance to my W was a developing Cb. I looked to the S and another Cb had formed exhibiting decent towers, both with huge anvils. The fun had begun!


*Cell to my W with a huge anvil*

I couldnt believe my luck, it was 13.40BST and I had two decent cells in the sky.

Cell to my S with towers and huge anvil

The cell to the S soon collapsed but the one out to the W remained for quite some time, and the radar showed it intensifying. I could hear a few rumbles but it was to bright to see any of the lightning. The rumbles got quite loud but then the storm seemed to die off and I was left with nice blue sky with the odd cloud around.

15.00BST was approaching, this was the time of the day that the Skew-T and GFS was showing the most moisture and insatbility, but looking outside didnt really hint towards developing storm cells. It was still sunny and very warm, then without warning, exlosive convection rocketed up from behind the rooftops across the street. Within minutes an area of updraught had rocketed a small cumulus cloud up into the atmosphere, it was widening and growing rapidly.

Rocketing tower, rapidly rising

I couldnt believe how fast this thing was rising, the only thing I could think of, was how cool it would be if my car was running, I would have been after these cells in a flash.

I looked to the SW to see another Cb had developed again with a huge anvil, this was just behind the rapidly developing tower.

Third Cb of the day, just behind the explosive convection

I couldnt believe how 3 Cb's had developed in no time at all. All with huge anvils and decent structure, 2 of which organised enough to produce lightning and decent rumbles, which I could hear from miles away! I sat back for a couple of minutes and checked the radar. Less than 5 minutes from taking the 1st image of the explosive convection and I was in for another treat.


Less than 5 minutes later and look how much it has grown

A Cb to my SW, explosive convection to my W, I didnt know what to do with myself. I hadnt witnessed cells developing this fast all year, and I dont remember the last time I saw convection explode upwards like that. I was snapping away with the camera, filming with the webcam and constantly watching this develop. I decided to get one image with the towers together using the 50mm lens. I wish I had got one with the 28mm lens, that way I may have got the Cb and updraught tower in the same image .

Line of towers deveoping to the W

It didnt take long before it had drastically changed again. I was to busy trying to live stream that I never got any images after this.

As many of you will know, when a rising parcle of air has reached the EQL (Equilibrium Level), it is at the same temperature to the surrounding air so it becomes stable and convection stops. This level is often very high up and can be indicated as the anvil of a t-storm because it is where the t-storm updraught is usually cut off, except in the case of overshooting tops which are found in storms with a very strong updraughts such as Supercells.

Well this tower soon hit the EQL and rapidly spread across the sky with a huge anvil. More of the smaller towers rose and eventually it became a monster Cb. The downside to this was the way alot of low lying cloud rolled in, blinding my view of this beauty.

It was a day that started boring, quickly becoming awesome. Some decent Cb's developed, best convection of the year by far occured. Heard a few rumbles and saw one flash of lightning. If I had wheels, this could have been one of my best days ever in storm chasing but unfortunatley the wheels I had were'nt turning and I was stuck to my house to watch these monsters pass by.

Since this day occurred I have since fixed my car and got her running. I have a few adjustments to to before I get it in for the M.O.T, but this means next year I will have a chase vehicle. I am hoping next year I will also have a small van, so if this is the case, I will be stepping chases up alot next year, as I intend to chase with a fully loaded vehicle of camera equipment, laptop with mobile internet and even a few gadgets to record wind speed, wind direction, rain fall, pressure drops and much more. All in the name of science. It will also be good experience for the trip of a lifetime I am hoping to do, when I travel the great plains in search of the most powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes mother nature has to offer!!!

Meanwhile Paul Martin in N.Ireland was experiencing different scenes:-

Tuesday 7/9/10
After the heavy rainfall of the previous 36 hours i knew there would be flooding scenes around the local areas so i planned to get up early and out with the camera. Once out on the road it was evident that the heavy and prolonged rainfall had caused plenty of disruption and numerous rivers and streams had burst their banks onto farmland and property. Some places in Ireland had recorded over 100mm rain from this event.

Here is a few images from Omagh and surrounding areas.

Wednesday 8//9/10
The outlook for this day was quite good with plenty of CAPE available into the evening, so it was fingers crossed for some convective action and maybe a storm or two. I had been online from late morning discussing the days prospects with storm chasing friends Martin McKenna and Danny Power. I was also keeping an eye on the radar and weather charts. The first sign that the sky was coming to life was the sight of this nice cell approaching. This is shot from my back garden.

Things were kicking off so i decided to drive to one of my favourite locations, the Pigeon Top outside Omagh where there is a great view across the surrounding countryside and on a clear day you can see forever. On arriving i was treated to a nice rainbow but the best scene of the day was this gust front feature with huge towers visible. It was approaching from the west with a heavy precipitation core visible underneath. It was great to sit here and watch the convective clouds grow and mature and release their rain over the countryside below. With a load of images in the bag i headed home and hoped it wouldn't be too long to the next potential storm day.

Unfortuanley Paul doesnt have his own site yet, so to see more of his amazing work, you will just have to hold on until he gets one. Fingers crossed it wont be to long.

And Martin Mckenna had it different once again. He wrote:-

Mid September presented me with five days in a row of storm chasing, these days varied from marginal to very ‘interesting’ set-ups, some of these produced a few unexpected surprises due to unpredicted high shear-low CAPE environments. Most of these convective opportunities were the result of an unstable post frontal airmass while others boasted life from pre-frontal forcing. During this five day period I must have undertaken at least 10 local chases in the Maghera area covering afternoon, evening, and sunset periods in the hope of catching a nice photo opportunity. The most fun day saw me near Tobermore watching decent convection firing up as a trough moved in, I parked near the local Vets and had a great view of a line of solid updraught towers arranged in a bowed shape covering many miles of sky, the bases of these were solid, black, and sported the potential for funnel formation. I was literally parked under the bases when I encountered an irate farmer who interrogated me about what I was doing, he didn’t believe I was storm chasing so I had show him my images, even after this I got a bad vibe so I moved position and parked up at the Moyola bridge where I had watched a significant flood in progress two days earlier caused by 48 hours of non stop heavy rainfall.

I watched a spectacular gust front form in this area with the best Whale’s Mouth structure of the year as the threatening towers grew stronger in the afternoon heat, precip broke out and the cell came to life, it looked for all the world like a storm without the lightning, this was due to problems with warm air aloft however the structure was worth it despite the lack of sparks. As arranged I met with local chaser Declan O’Doherty at the river and together we chased that cell through the country roads at swift speed as torrential rain reduced visibility and flooded roads splashed waves of water over the windows, the two of us in pursuit through these treacherous roads reminded me of the scene from the movie Twister when all the chase vans navigated similar roads and hills with music trumpeting loudly, it was quite a thrill which brought a smile to my face!. We stopped numerous times to shoot the vast flooded fields which looked more like lakes. During the late afternoon we missed the best storms of the day over E NI in the direction of Antrim, these cells shot up from nowhere and began spitting out c-g’s with purpose, from Maghera the clouds parted and we saw those amazing anvils to the NE which were the most majestic I had seen this year and beautiful beyond description, they where tens of miles away and too far to catch but we enjoyed watching their menacing profiles against the skyline and felt somewhat jealous that others would be having a good show under them.

Whales mouth and gust front near Tobermore on Sept 7th

September 11^th was the most exciting of all with 900+ CAPE so big storms were expected and the build-up chat with Paul and Danny on facebook added to the pulse rate. The action began early for me when I saw a large line of cells approaching from the W with huge anvils blowing downwind to the E, the sky below was dark blue with that classic thundery colour, big towers and convective cells where going up ahead of this thing on the outflow so I wasted no time getting in the car. I chased this line all the way from Maghera to Ballyronan while stopping ½ dozen times to take images from the quiet country roads, I had a fun time driving along while holding my video camera out the window for much of the journey. I intercepted the storm perfectly at Lough Neagh and let it pass over me, it then fell apart over the Lough and came to nothing, at this time of year the Lough as been cooler which hampers the ‘food’ a storm cell requires, this meal consists of warm moist air, had this been earlier in the year then I could have hit the jackpot. I was back out again before sunset with Declan watching towers and cells sporting bows as the clouds turned warm before the day ended. Some of these cells remained until well into the night which made for a spectacular sight with towers and anvils surrounded by stars.

Line of cbs outside Ballyronan on Sept 11th

I had more local chases on the 8^th, 9^th and 12^th thanks to unexpected cell development in a sheared wind profile, big convection bubbled up so I chased to Glenshane where I watched nice inflow motion under a cb which almost touched the ground. That same evening an extremely intense cell moved in from the S and dumped a remarkable torrential downpour over my home town which made quite a sound!, behind the precip was a beast of a wall cloud hanging over Maghera with lively inflow motion, I raced out in the car and parked ahead of it and watched as it transformed shape while exhibiting vertical motion and rotation, at one stage it was like a vertical barrel and similar to a funnel, the lowering broke up however behind I watched amazing inflow at the back of the cell, to see ragged cloud getting sucked into the base at such high speed was quite a shock and more like a scene from US supercells. I intercepted another high precip cell behind this one which had Meso characteristics at the rear with well separated inflow/outflow. This was a day of nasty weather but shocking it only came from 200 CAPE, wind shear makes all the difference!

The 12^th saw further heavy showers and more rotation straight above my home!, a large black lowering dropped down and spun in plain sight for 10 min’s as I watched in awe from my back door with my Sister who couldn’t believe how fast the rotation was and for a moment I thought a tornado was likely, if there had been one there would have been damage to homes in this area, however it wasn’t to happen this day as the lowering turned shallow and vanished back into the cloud base, the scene reminded me of a diver wearing a grotesque bloated black suit diving below the surface of the water to stir the bottom of the ocean (ground) before returning to the surface again. So that was that, five days of action which produced a rollercoaster ride of emotion with thrills and spills which resulted in 60+ images at the coast of fuel, however this is what chasing is all about, if you’re not in you can’t win!.

Martin McKenna

To see more of Martins amazing work please visit his website www.nightskyhunter.com If you would like to see more of Martins amazing storm chases please click here

I would like to thank Paul and Martin for contributing to this account, and I would like to thank you all for reading.

Convective Forecast for 10/09/10 & 11/09/10

2010-09-10T14:32:00.000+01:00

3 Convective Weather Forecasts Are In Place (set over 2 days)- please see below:

Day 1 (10/09/10)
Region(s): N.Ireland, SW Scotland
Issued: 10.00, 10th September 2010
Threat(s): Thunderstorms, Hail, Funnel Clouds

The charts this morning for 21z tonight, just off the W coast of Ireland show Dewpoint temps of 12C and temps of 13C so low cloud bases along with Low, Mid and High layer clouds around along with SBCAPE of upto 700j/kg & MLCAPE upto 500j/kg with LI's of -3. An upper trough and EQL temps of -40C could mean night time lightning and with precipitable water at only 2.46mm then hail is likely. A Cz giving horizontal shear just off the coast along with DLS of 30 knots could help any cells sustain themselves along with a risk of FC's, the heaviest of the showers are expected N of N.Ireland across the sea making their way towards Scotland (according to GFS & NAE). I think something could occur but I also think it will happen over the West coast but given the fronts moving N of N.Ireland then a few embedded storms could occur out to sea amongst those heavy showers. These showers are within an unstable airmass from the remnants of hurricane Earl.

Day 2 (11/09/10)
AREA 1
Region(s): NW England
Issued: 10.00, 10th September 2010
Threat(s): Thunderstorms, Hail, Funnel Clouds, Weak Tornadoes.

With SBCAPE of 200-300j/kg MLCAPE upto 100j/kg with LI's of -1. Dewpoint temps at 14C and temps at 16C means low cloud bases. DLS of 50 knots could allow any cells to become organised and sustain themselves and LLS upto 20 knots means the odd weak funnel cloud could form and given the low cloud bases any FC's which do form also have the risk of touching down. EQL temps at -20 an upper trough, freezing level at 750hpa, and precipitable water of 2.12mm means hail is a possibility and also slight chance of lightning. Only marginal but definatley a chance of seeing a funnel cloud in the morning from the base of any updraught towers. Two forms of lift around for tommorrow as well in the way of frontal systems and orographic lifting, both could play apart and act as the 'trigger' needed to give the lift to initiate convection.

Day 2 (11/09/10)
AREA 2
Region(s): N.Ireland
Issued: 10.00, 10th September 2010
Threat(s): Thunderstorms, Hail, Funnel Clouds

A better set up is over N.Ireland where there is also a chance of storms tommorrow. The current GFS run for 15z tommorrow has the highest CAPE around the Lough with SBCAPE upto 900j/kg MLCAPE upto 500j/kg with LI's of -3. Dewpoint temps at 13C with temps at 16C. EQL temp at -15 with a freezing level between 800-750hpa, an upper trough with cool air aloft & Precipitable Water (PW) at 2.13mm means hail is likely with a risk of lightning. DLS is weak at only 20 knots but the convergence at the lough were the 'sea' breeze meets the environmental flow could help with storms becoming more organised and also a small chance in funnel formation. A few frontal systems also expected to pass the region throughout the day so these could act as the trigger for storms to develop from.

Convective Forecast - 07/09/10

2010-09-07T09:34:00.000+01:00

2 Convective Weather Forecasts Are In Place- please see below:

AREA 1
Region(s): NW England
Issued: 08.40, 7th September 2010
Threat(s): Thunderstorms, Hail,

*The low located to the West of the UK has made itself known as its really dominated the weather over the last couple of days. Today is no different.

According to the GFS at 15z, todays temps are expected to reach around 17°C by mid afternoon, at this time GFS forecasts SBCAPE upto 1102j/kg, MLCAPE upto 500j/kg and LI's of -4. A cold front is expected to pass the region before this which could bring some heavy showers and if solar insolation is able to take place, then also thunderstorms are possible. EQL temps of -40 and an upper trough could allow moderate sized hail to form and also some strong lightning. Deep Layer Shear is quite weak at only 20 knots and Low Level Shear seems none existent so the chance of funnel clouds and tornadoes is low.

(The Skew-T shows the PT crossing the ELR at 300hpa, with this and the EQL temps of -40, cells could become quite tall (upto 30,000 feet) and have nice anvils so some photogenic storms could occur).

AREA 2
Region(s): SW England, Wales, Midlands, N.Ireland, NE England, SE Scotland
Threat(s): Thunderstorms, Hail, Flash Flooding, Funnel Clouds, Tornaodes

Similar to above for the cold front and upper trough but slightly different forecast for each region.

For other parts of the country the SW has already seen some thunderstorms this morning and more are expected throughout the day with these moving N into Wales. There is also a chance of storms in the midlands.

In N.Ireland more rain is expected to hit the region today, so on top of what has already landed flooding is likely, to make it worse storms are also possible which could bring heavy rainfall in a short space of time which does cause a risk of flash flooding. The highest CAPE is expected to the S of Lough Neagh (upto 600j/kg CAPE with LI's of -2 forecast) so a few storms could occur here.

In NE England and SE Scotland there is also high CAPE values of upto 800j/kg with LI's of -3 along with a convergence zone (CZ) Deep Layer Shear of 30 knots and Low Level Shear between 20 & 35 knots so a few good storms with the chance of funnels and tornadoes are possible in this region!

Facebook

2010-09-03T22:24:00.001+01:00

Hey guys,

I just want to thank everyone who has viewed my site. Please join my facebook page The North WestChaser and interact with all the users. Have a go at forecasting yourself, ask questions and most of all enjoy yourself. On the facebook page you can see the photos that dont make the POD, and meet other people with the same interests as yourself.

Also if you would like a photo to be on the facebook page, and in with a chance of making the POD please send them to thenorthwestchaser@gmail.com

Thanks

Dan

The Chase Was On

2010-08-13T12:38:00.001+01:00

It was a strange day August 12th 2010. I had been feeling ill and hardly slept for the previous 7 days. When I awoke, I wasnt feeling to bad and I was looking forward to the Perseid Meteor Shower which was to peak that night. I did the usual morning routine of getting ready then checking the forecast for that day. As my attention was for the night time I didnt bother checking the GFS (which is not like me) and I went on about my day as usual.

As the day went on the temps got hotter and it felt quite warm in the sunshine. I was at home decorating when a small shower passed by. A look at the sky showed a rather small cell passing which was bringing the shower, but the rest of the sky was rather clear, but the S SE had some decent looking convection. When I had finished decorating I got cleaned up and went to my girlfriends house for some lunch. It was about 15.00BST and my girlfriend said she wanted to clean her car. She went downstairs and started reaching the stuff out whilst I uploaded my Blackpool Airshow Images to facebook when I got a message from a Sean Benneyworth informing me of a thunderstorm he was enjoying in Kettering. I decided to check the GFS to see what values he had when I realised I also had the chance of a storm. I quickly ran to the front of the house to check the sky when I noticed a huge Cb to the E which was going to miss me by a few miles if it stayed on its current track. I informed Zoe straight away that it was going to soon rain and possibly thunder. She could just see white fluffly clouds and thought nothing was going to happen and went out to clean her car. I checked the radar and saw a line of cells moving S, one of which would pass right over our head.

I informed her that within 30 minutes we would be experiencing a thunderstorm and heavy rain but still she didnt believe me. I admired the cell which had great updraught towers shooting up looking like giant cauliflowers. It also had a fuzzy anvil the first time I looked at it but 5-10 minutes later its anvil had formed much better and had become more crisp! Its base looked very dark but the houses across the street were blocking my view of any rain curtains etc. I kept dashing in and out to update people on facebook as to what was happening, but I was concentrating so much on the cell to the E that I hadnt even noticed the cell forming behind me to the NW.

Zoe ran in shouting "I think its thundering", I popped my head out of the window and saw a huge cell approaching, this thing was a daddy, It had a long flanking line to the rear, a huge anvil, pitch black base and it was becoming very active. I turned the laptop off and dashed outside to Zoe. I basically told her we were chasing this thing. The downside was I didnt have my camera on me, it was at home 2 miles away so we had to drive under the storm to get my gear to drive back on ourselves another 3 miles to get to our location which we would be able to watch the cell pass directly over us. Luckily Zoe was just rinsing the last few bubbles off her car so we jumped straight in it and drove to mine, we closed in on the storm and the sky turned from day to night. We was driving directly under the updraught, the motion in the thing was awesome, then I noticed rotation, the whole updraught region was rotating quite rapidly then it started lowering. Striations could be seen on the cell wall, then a wall cloud formed and a funnel lowered from it. You could see a line of inflow being violently drawn into the wall cloud. The funnel formed and it looked amazing. I wish I had my camera on me so I could have gotten some images of this. You would have been impressed.

This is a radar grab of the cell when the major rotation was taking place. Thanks to Shaun Maltby for getting it me

We got to mine and I ran in and grabbed the camera, the sky was looking awesome. Whales mouth was dominating the rear end of the cell as the inflow was making this thing look like a very choppy sea. Within 2 minutes of going through the front door the downdraught made itself known. The rain was immense, the rain drops were huge and falling to the earth at an alarming rate, the winds had picked up and remained almost constant with strong gusts coming every now and then. There was quite alot of lightning coming from this thing so I didnt want to miss anymore of it, so I ran to the car and we got going again.

I drove through the core which I drove just over 2 miles to do so, I was at the front of the cell, another 1/2 a mile on the same road and I was just infront of it. We then had to turn, this meant the cell was able to gain ground on us, fast. Which it did. We finally arrived at our destination buzzing about the lightning strikes we had just seen, the rumbles we had heard and obviously the funnel cloud!

Zoe had been filming the drive through the core and then filmed the cell as it passed over us before the core had a chance to pounce on us again.

Short video clip of us driving through the core

I then took the camera off Zoe and started to film the base of the cell and the rain curtains out to the W. The lightning strike rate had calmed down alot by the time we got here but there was still a few strikes to be seen. If I didnt have to go back and get my camera we would have had some awesome footage to bring back with us.

This was a rain curtain over to the W

The storm soon died off after being up here, but another cell which I mention in this next video was developing to our N.

Long video showing lightning and more of the cell, as well as a developing cell to the N NE

As you hear me mention about the developing cell, this is what it looked like a few minutes after I stopped filming.

Image showing the cell from the video now with an anvil

We remained here for a while checking out both cells and getting hit by strong winds and heavy rain. There was a few lightning strikes and some good rumbles but the cell was moving on. Another line of convection hanging on to the rear of the cell started to go up.

A small tower developing

Since small towers were starting to go up again we decided to stay put due to the unstable environment, we knew there was a chance of seeing something, whether it was going to be another Cb or a heavy downpour something would happen.

I got trigger happy with the camera and started taking images of clouds, rear of the cell, the developing towers, the cell to our N. There was something happening everywhere which was quite exciting.

This was a developing line of towers to the rear of the cell (taken before the image above this)

Then another look N showed the cell looking bigger and better, but it was always going to struggle making it to us as this was atleast 20 miles away.

The cell to the N getting stronger

Then a look behind us to the E and we could see blue sky starting to peak through the breaks in the clouds. Zoe asked if we could go home but my instincts were telling me something was building and whatever it was, it was imminent.

But then a few lowerings side by side formed under the base of a mean looking cloud, they were rotating quite quickly and were dancing with each other. But it was just scud and nothing to get excited about.

Dancing, rotating scud. You can see from the image the rotation in this cell

Although the scud was nothing to get excited about, the cell they were under was. The image shows the rotation quite well, so I stayed gazing at it for a while thinking something would form and drop. But nothing did.

A little while had passed and nothing had happened and we were considering going home, a few more images were taken just to keep me busy.

Side and rear of the main cell

Zoe was getting quite impatient at this point as nothing was happening and she was getting hungry. So I got back in the car and said 1 more minute then we can go.

Then without warning a small funnel formed under the base of one of the rising towers at the rear of the cell

Very poor image of the funnel but by the time I realised it was blurry it was to late

The funnel remained for a few seconds before going back into the cloud base. Since Zoe had seen it she had a slight adrenaline buzz about her and started patrolling the whole base incase more funnels dropped, eventually though the adrenaline wore off and she was bored again so we called it a day.

When I got home I checked the internet to check out the radar and Sferics, and this is what the C-g rate looked like.

Sferics over the UK

Later that night it was on the news about the cells which brought flash flooding to Stockport. This cell was one of them to contribute.

One of the many videos I found on youtube of the flooding

I dont know if you heard but in one of the videos I mentioned taking Zoe for a chinese, well I was true to my word and got her chicken fried rice, with curry sauce, sweet and sour sauce and some chips. What a great end to a great day. Next time I will remember to take my camera though.

Thanks for reading

A Storm Chasers Dream

2010-07-31T14:08:00.000+01:00

Well I have been a severe weather enthusiast since I was a toddler. Strangely though, as a child I was scared of thunder and lightning aswel as high winds. The lightning strikes freaked me out whilst the thunder scared the hell out of me. The high winds didnt bother me during the day, but if it was windy at night, it was a different story. I remember the house we used to live in had a tree right infront of the house, the top of it was right infront of my window. A street light sat across the street which shone in my room. When the winds were up, the tree top would move, leaving wierd looking shadows on my bedroom wall and this used to scare me.

My dad is also a severe weather enthusiast and he loves thunderstorms, so as a child he would sit me at the door during a thunderstorm, trying to get me used to them. He would be sat their enjoying himself watching the storm pass, and everytime it lightened he would try and explain to me that I was safe and there was nothing to be worried about. Eventually it paid off and I would happily sit there with him watching the storms and talk and laugh about the times I was scared. When I was a little older we would go out in the car when it thundered and drive to a high location to watch the lightning strikes as they lit up the sky. A few times we would chase the storms into the unknown, this is when I started getting the 'bug', being out on the open road, chasing a thunderstorm with lightning striking all around us, the car getting pounded by the heavy rain and hail. This is what it was all about, I was finally realising why my dad liked storms so much.

As the years passed by, the storm bug took over me. Everytime the weather forecast mentioned thunderstorms, I would feel the blood rush through my veins as my heart started to beat faster due to the excitement, but most of the time the forecast was wrong and we would just get the plain old boring rain. This eventually got to much for me, so I decided enough was enough and that it was time to learn to forecast convective weather myself. I learned what I could through reading on the internet, but I still wasnt satisfied.

I carried on searching the internet for more information, when I eventually came across Martin McKenna's website. This site is full of his amazing storm chases from N.Ireland aswel as all his amazing work in astronomy. I kept reading each image account on there, getting used to the phrases used to describe certain things, this was helping me out big time. I suffer from a bad knee, and every winter it swells up and I cant put any weight on it, and as a big football fan I knew I wouldnt beable to play football anymore, so I decided I needed a new hobby. After going over Martins site over and over I knew that I wanted to get into astronomy, so I emailed him for some information, which he willingly helped me out with. After that we exchanged quite a few emails and he helped me out with things I was struggling with. This I would like to thank him for, so thank you Martin, you are a true star.

After all of Martins help I was much better at reading the charts and I was alot better at guessing when thunder would strike. But I still wasnt happy and as a member of SkywarnUK I got talking to the Lead Forecaster Sean Benneyworth. He then helped me understand the bits I was unsure of and helped me forecast the weather, which I believe I am getting quite good at, so also a big thanks to you to Sean.

These days whenever possible I get out and chase storms, photographing them and reporting the severe side of things to TORRO and SkywarnUK. Then I get a full image account on to this blog. But, a few years ago, back in May 2005, I was at home, with no camera equipment and definatley not ready for what was about to come.

It started as just a normal day with thunderstorms forecast across the region for the afternoon. It was quite a nice morning, the sun was out and it was peasantly warm, with a nice blue sky and the odd whisp of cirrus cloud high in the sky. As the day went on the clouds slowly rolled in and eventually the storm hit. I was sat at home watching it from my bedroom window, the sky was black, and a few suspicious lowerings could be seen. At the time I thought hmmm maybe a tornado is forming, but nothing came of these lowerings. Eventually though a lowering did form in the shape of a wall cloud. I ran onto the street to get a better view as it was starting to get covered by the trees. When I got to the street my jaw dropped and almost hit the floor, my eyes popped out of their sockets and my heart almost exploded. There it was, creeping out of the cloud base, swirling in awesome motion, a decent size wall cloud, with a funnel firmly attached. Well thats what I thought it was. At the same time i was on the street, my mate was riding home from Preston on his motorbike. He came to my house and said 'Danny, there is a tornado in houghton'. We watched in amazement as this thing moved across the sky. My heart was thumping so hard, my whole body was shaking, I couldnt talk properly. Any words I managed to get out were either shakey or slurred. I could feel my knees knocking together, as my whole body was shaking violently. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. A tornado, between 1 and 2 miles from my home. It was truley amazing.

Sadly though I didnt have anything I could get a photo with at the time, so all I have is my memory, and luckily somebody else in another area of Blackburn also saw it, recorded it and uploaded it to youtube.

Video of the tornado I found on youtube by TONPAC40

Up to 30 homes suffered mostly minor damage and there were also unconfirmed reports of sheep being lifted into the air.

It was the best day of my life as far as storms are concerned.

It seems as though 2005 was a major year when it comes to storms, especially for me. As just 2 months later in July I witnessed the Birmingham Tornado.

It was the 28th July and the day started quite nice. I dont fully remember where we was going, but we wasnt to far away from Birmingham. The sky sooned turned black, and a thunderstorm was forming.

Was I going to be in luck and see another belting thunderstorm? Was this beast going to produce a funnel or a tornado?

Well to be honest I wasnt expecting much, but on this day my mind was elsewhere as we were about to go on holiday.

I remember being sat down as the sky darkened and a really heavy shower arrived. The rain drops were huge and the speed in which they were falling to earth was out of this world. Me and my dad kept watching the cell as it grew and grew. Eventually a lowering could be seen, which just seemed to get lower and lower until...you guessed it, a touch down. The 2nd I had witnessed in 2 months.

Only this one was huge. I wasnt close enough to it nor was it close to my home for my emotions to run wild like the one in Blackburn. However I did feel excited by watching it from a distance. I couldnt believe I was witnessing another tornado here in the UK. I know a few storm chasers who are dedicated to storm chasing and have never seen a tornado. I am a dedicated storm chaser but I seemed to have just stumbled upon these two, or rather they came to me.

Anyway, I had lots of things going through my mind, 2 tornadoes in as many months, being just a few miles away from it, and my holiday. My head was all over the place, my heart sped up a tad, and my hands started shaking. Am I really witnessing this I thought. People around us were shocked at the fact tornadoes do occur in the UK, and more so, since they were looking right at one. The distance we was from it meant we couldnt see the damage being caused by it, but we could see how dark this thing was, and we could feel the intense winds coming from the cell.

We only saw the tornado for 2-3 minutes. The whole time it was in view, I was buzzing. As I watched it move across the area my hands shook harder, again my words were jumbled as the adrenaline kicked in. I remember thinking what a beast this was, and how much more defined it was than the one in Blackburn.

Video from youtube by Steve Follows

I was abit gutted we didnt get to see it at its biggest, our location wasnt the best to be in, in order to see it. But atleast I did get to see it.

Sadly I dont really remember everything about the Birmingham Tornado, but I do know I will never forget seeing it. This is something that will be with me forever, afterall it is a storm chasers dream to witness a tornado, and I witnessed 2 in 2 months. For this alone I know I am a very lucky man especially since I witnessed them both here in the UK.

Thanks for reading

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/image_galleries/tornado_gallery_Copy.shtml?1

July 21st Storm

2010-07-24T16:10:00.001+01:00

After landing back in England and being disappointed at the fact I missed 2 storms which had struck Blackburn on the same day, I was wishing I was back in Turkey.

Now I don't mind clouds and I don't mind the odd shower but it has rained almost constantly since I have been home. The rain showers that had come were just the usual, low lying cloud usually nimbostratus which had dominated the sky producing lots of light precipitation. To be quite frank, it was boring the life out of me. I wanted to see some action. I had just spent 2 weeks in a country, seeing the odd cloud make its way over the mountain before dissipating before it arrived at our location. Other than that it was blue sky during the day and stars at night. I get home and hear I had missed the best storm to hit the NW this year. So you can probably tell how I felt to be just seeing rain.

I didn't have to wait long though before the charts were looking promising. Tuesday 20th July and the charts were looking good for many parts across the UK, decent CAPE & LI's, and wind shear at mid levels was strong, all we needed was a trigger provided by a frontal system moving in and we would have a good show on our hands. However we also needed solar heating to take place and in order to do this, clear skies are needed. Sadly the frontal system moved in a little to early bringing with it clouds and light showers. These clouds were the downfall to the days wonderful set-up as they prevented the sun heating the moisture at lower levels so we ended up with yet another boring cloudy day. A few clear sectors formed throughout the afternoon and allowed some solar heating to take place, which was evident through some rapidly rising towers which bubbled up in the SE. Sadly though these breaks in the cloud didnt last long enough so the Cumulus Congestus which had formed wern't able to form into Cumulonimbus (Cb) Clouds. The breaks were long enough though to allow these towers to grow quite high, but then the updraught became to weak and the downdraught dominated becoming outflow dominant, bringing with it slightly stronger winds and plenty of rain. Atlast, proper rain.

Video showing how heavy the rain was falling, look at it rush from the drain pipes

I really did think at the time that maybe it had managed to form into a Cb, and that we was about to have a storm on our hands, but sadly it was just wishful thinking. The rain fell at this rate for quite a while, I was awe inspired by the shear force these rain drops were falling to earth. In the video above you can see them bounce back off the floor with great force. Sadly after these cells had past nothing came of the weather and I was left bored once again.

Tuesday night came and I was sat with the laptop on my lap checking the GFS. On monday I had put out a weather warning on my blog for N.Ireland for Thunderstorms, Funnel clouds, Tornadoes and another warning covering NW England & Wales and this one was for Thunderstorms & Marginally Severe Hail. I signed into facebook and noticed good friends and fellow N.Ireland storm chasers Martin Mckenna and Paul Martin online. We ended up chatting about the set up for N.Ireland and the UK and how each run had been consistent for days. We all agreed my forecast was spot on and the best area for them to head to would be SW of Lough Neagh and that I would be best waiting around till mid afternoon to see what was occuring.

The GFS was showing by 15.00BST high CAPE values of up to 1200j/kg with LI down to -3. Deep layer shear of 20 knots and a convergence zone (CZ) just to the NW of the lough which extended down and over parts of the lough. These where excellent values, however the CAPE was to be around from early morning meaning one long day of storms could have been on the cards had they been triggered. Again solar heating plays a big part in thunderstorm development so really they both wanted clear skies till atleast midday then there would be a better chance of seeing some explosive convection. But by wedensday morning the charts had slightly changed. For the better.

I would like to write more on this chase and set up, how ever I am in NW England, so I wasn't there. If you would like to read more on the days events in N.Ireland please visit Martins site www.nightskyhunter.com

I however had it different, my set up wasnt quite as exciting as theirs however, a local convergence zone often forms here due to the Topography of the land. I have relatively flat land out to the coast to my west, and to my east I have the West Pennine Moors which are great for orographic lifting. These two things mean funnel clouds often form due to the low level shear produced from the CZ. The CZ forms here as the two winds meet, the sea-breeze which comes in from the coast meets the environmental flow from the hills and often forms lift to the low level moisture and also rotation as they meet. This can sometimes result in explosive convection especially when solar heating has taken place.

There was an occluded front approaching the region and was expected to hit during mid-late afternoon. This was perfect as the charts were showing the best CAPE values of 600j/kg with LI down to -2 a little earlier than the front was due to hit. This meant if the sky stayed clear, solar heating could take place, making the moisture at low levels nice and warm, which meant when the occluded front hit, these bouyant, warm particles would rise rapidly into the atmosphere eventually becoming Cb's. With deep layer shear of 30 knots which was strong enough to sustain any storms which developed, and a CZ there was always that small chance of a funnel cloud forming. Sadly though, the clouds wouldnt stay away and throughout the day they would roll in, break away then more would roll in to take their place. It was an ongoing cycle which didnt seem to want to end.

I checked the radar and saw lots of cells across the UK with some impressive cells in N.Ireland and the Republic. I also checked the Sferics, a big grin came to my face as my forecast seemed to be right, good strong echoes coming back on the radar with plenty of Sferics across the whole E coast of Ireland. Then that grin soon disappeared as it all seemed to be missing the SW of Lough Neagh. I was wondering if they had both gone there and missed the show to the E, or if they had gone and noticed it looking better to the E and moved on. I was gutted thinking about it. I was hoping they was getting to atleast see the storms if not feel them.

As the day passed on the Sferics were looking better and better along the E coast of Ireland. Then a few Sferics showed up from the S of the NW region. I quickly checked the radar to see some intensifying cells closing in on my location. I was getting excited at the fact a decent storm could be hitting anytime soon.

But like all this year my chasing has been let down due to my car being a non runner (the parts needed are hard to get hold of so it may take a while to get it running again). This soon hit me and the excitement faded slightly, more so since my dad ended up with a flat tyre that morning and he didnt have a spare to replace it with. My girlfriend was at work so she was out of the question and my sister was over tired due to being up for the best part of 15 hours. I was gutted, but at 20.13BST I heard the 1st rumble coming from way in the distance. Within 2 minutes I heard 3 rumbles, and when this cell was still atleast 10 miles away I thought we was doing well. The camera gear was grabbed and I was out in the street for a better view.

On the way down I had a quick look out of my landing window and saw this

The sky was looking mean as the front of this cell approached

The image above shows an area of updraught as it starts to rise just above the tree, then a nice lowering just to the right of the tree. Below is another photo this time the low level cloud this cell was throwing out had blocked the view of the updraught, but look at the colour of the sky

Look at the colour of the sky, total darkness under this cell at the other side of the old farmhouse

This thing really was a beauty. I couldnt believe the rate in which this cell was rising. It was moving R to L and quite slowly aswel. There was an eery silence as this cell appraoched and moved by which was only disturbed when a rumble of thunder exploded and rolled across the sky.

Another image towards the back of the cell

The above image shows off the towers going up towards the rear of the cell. It had a good strong inflow at the rear with a decent tail leading into the base which was making towers rise pretty rapidly. Look at the lowering under the updraught tower just behind the pylon. I thought for a moment a funnel was going to form from it.

Zoomed in shot of the lowering

I kept watching those towers rise, before I knew it I was almost looking at the zenith just to see the tops of them. I got some photos of the towers at different stages but when they got to a certain height the images were being over exposed due to the blue sky and bright white clouds. I had to compensate quality to get a decent exposure, so the images ended up full of noise and they had to be binned. So I grabbed a video instead.

Video clip of the cell showing its height much better than photos

This cell was really looking healthy, it had solid towers rising rapidly showing a strong updraught, a good looking inflow tail to the rear which was feeding the storm nicely. No precip was falling which meant this storm was an electrical storm and just getting stronger by the minute. It was a little strange being under this thing, usually when I intercept a storm I am being battered by rain or hail and strong winds. This there was nothing, a strong breeze at best. It felt strange but also good, as I knew this cell wasn't going to die any time soon.

The cell as its getting stronger

I stayed watching the cell as it grew grabbing lots of shots. My batteries started dying so the quality of the images was slowly deteriorating, to make things worse the low clouds had covered the sun light so lighting was terrible. As I lost some rechargeable batteries in Turkey and havent replaced them yet, I had to use my mobile phone for the photos and video.

Taken using my Sony Ericsson W995

The above image is showing the cells lower structure quite well. This was taken a few minutes before the one below and look at the difference.

Also taken with the W995

You can really see the difference in height in the two images. It really rocketed up at this stage. It was looking more fierce by the second and the winds were starting to pick up a little, with the odd drop of rain which was falling to earth the size of garden peas. Now it was getting exciting. I could feel my heart beating faster as the adrenaline kicked in. I was standing underneath a huge cell, producing C-g's, loud rumbles, strong winds and large rain. This is my favourite place in the world. I felt like a littl kid does on Christmas day.

I soon had to rush in though, I have had many close encounters in my time with thunderstorms and lightning, I like to take my work to the extreme. This often means getting right in the danger zone.

About five years ago I was stood in the middle of my drive watching a storm pass directly over head when I felt all my hairs on my head and arms stand on end, I ran into the porch way and within three seconds a big bolt of lightning struck my car which was parked at the bottom of the drive. A very close call, one which really gets the adrenaline pumping.

So back to watching this beautiful cell pass by I noticed mammatus clouds forming on the storms anvil.

Mammatus forming on the anvil

Whilst I was staring at the mammatus and getting photos, I felt that familiar feeling of the hairs on my head and arms standing on end. I once again ran towards my house, I had just got under the front door ledge when the sky lit up with an awesome blue/purple I-C bolt shooting through the cloud. Again a close encounter, only this time, it wasnt as close as the last.

About 10 minutes had passed and nothing had happened as the storm had passed on. I decided since I wasnt able to chase after it to go in the house and upload the images and video to the laptop to see how they looked. As I walked up the stairs I had one last look out of the landing window to watch the rear of the cell pass, when I saw this

Video of Rainbow which formed after the storm passed

This lovely rainbow, lit up the eastern sky beautifully. It really was such a nice sight to see after a thunderstorm. I recorded it for a short period of time then decided to run out and grab some photos. Sadly the camera wasnt getting good shots due to the low batteries and the phone was useless.

This is looking S at the rainbow

This is looking SE at the rainbow. Sorry for the poor quality image

When I realised the quality was pretty poor, I went back inside to my bedroom so I could upload the images and video. When I got to my room I noticed this sunset and I had to try and get an image of it.

Well, with a beautiful sunset and rainbow after an evening thunderstorm to end the day I was a very happy man. Let's just hope more storms and severe weather isnt to far away.

Thanks for reading.

Turkey Holiday 1st-15th July

2010-07-18T23:30:00.000+01:00

Well it had been a long time coming but the day had finally arrived that me and my girlfriend had been waiting for. It was the day we were going on our 1st holiday together.

We had booked to go to Ovacik, Hisaronu, located just behind the glorious beach and lagoon of Olu Deniz.

I got woke up at around 06.45BST from a text from my girlfriend as she was all excited about going, so I got up and made a start at getting ready. A little while later at 09.30BST we set off to my girlfriends to pick her up ready for the drive to the airport. The whole way there I was singing and messing around as the excitement struck. This excitement was soon knocked straight out of me. We got to the airport and grabbed our belongings, said bye to my parents and headed off inside terminal one at Manchester Airport. We got in and there was just a few people waiting for the check in to open at 10.30BST, which wasn't to bad considering what check in can be like. A little while later and it was our turn, our worse fear was our cases being overweight as we both had trouble keeping the weight down. The cases went on the scales and Zoe was 2kg overweight so she was charged £24, then we got told our flight was delayed and we would find out more at 14.00hrs. GREAT! We were meant to fly at 13.30hrs.

At least there was something to look at to cure our boredom for a while.

The Porsche and Ferrari in the back ground helped cure the boredom for a little while

14.00hrs came along and we was told we would be delayed until 18.00hrs, my blood was boiling, at that time we should have been in Dalaman airport collecting our cases. It got worse 15 minutes later it said we would board the plane at 18.05hrs and depart at 19.00hrs, I couldn't believe it, what was meant to be a happy day soon became a day I wanted to forget. The day just dragged, not much you can do in an airport for 8 hours. At around 18.00hrs the screens were showing that our gate would open in 15 minutes, so we decided to go to the toilets before we boarded, we came out expecting it to be saying 10 minutes till gates open, instead it said we was delayed till 21.30hrs. I now felt sick, my head was pounding, my stomach churning and I was in a rage. I wanted to know why we were delayed so badly and why couldn't they send for another plane? Technical problems with or plane was the only answer they would give. We waited around bored out of our heads, only for it to hit 21.00 and we be told we was further delayed till 22.15. I wanted to cry, I was so drained I didn't have the energy to. We was told that our pilot had taken the plane for a test flight at 19.00hrs and that he wasn't happy with it and told he didn't think the plane would make it to Turkey. Just what we wanted to hear when we had a 4 hour flight ahead of us.

At 22.15 the gates finally opened and everyone rushed through and boarded the plane, our pilot came on the speaker and apologised for the delay and explained how the plane had gone into the hangar for a routine maintenance check and how loads of problems had been found, he then said how the pilot we should have had wasn't happy with it on the test flight so he went home. I'm kind of glad this happened because the new pilot was awesome. The take off was perfect and he told us he would try and shave a few minutes off the 3 hours 52 minutes it should take. He had the plane at 575mph the whole way there and we hardly hit any turbulence.

During the flight I kept looking out of the window to see the view of Europe at night from 37,500ft, nothing special until the sun started to close in on the horizon, morning twilight was starting, as we approached Turkey there was an amazing view from the window. The ground was black with the odd orange street light dotted on the black canvas of the ground, then the line of the horizon as it met a beautiful deep red/orange colour from the rising sun, these colours slowly faded the higher you looked as they collided with the wonderful blue of the morning twilight sky, this blue darkened higher up as it met the black of the night sky which like the ground had wonderful glows of white and red dots from the stars millions of light years away. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was absolutely gorgeous, I was totally blown away. I was that fascinated that I forgot to grab my camera and get a photo. Just as I remembered the seat belt sign came on as we started our descent which meant I wasn't able to turn my camera on and grab some shots. This I truly am ashamed of.

Then we landed and it was so smooth we didn't realise we had landed. Finally we were there. Temperature at 04.30hrs (Turkey time) was 22°C, and it felt amazing. A few things to do and a little while later and we was on the coach on our way to the hotel. The drivers are nuts over there.

We finally arrived at our hotel at 06.00hrs (04.00BST), we were late in getting there, very tired and cranky and all we wanted to do was grab some sleep, which we did after being showed to our rooms. We got in, unpacked and dozed off only to be woken at 10.00 by the cleaner. We decided to get up and check out the place and boy was it beautiful, the temperature was soaring well past 30°C, people were sun bathing on sun loungers whilst others splashed about in the pool. We couldn't believe we were actually there.

We decided to go for a walk down into Hisaronu and check out the local shops etc, some had daft names and others the workers were annoying constantly begging you to go in and buy something.

This was one of the shops with a name we found amusing

When we got back to our hotel it was time for us to get ready for our evening meal, so we went back to our room to get showered and changed, then we headed off to the restaurant for dinner. We sat outside on the large balcony which over looked the pool area, and took in the view we had. It was absolutely breath taking. Mountains all around us, the Hisaronu resort below with more mountains behind it, then the perfect view of the sunset, setting behind a mountain top, all this together with the romantic music the hotel had playing made for the perfect romantic evening on which to start our holiday. The stress of the previous day was soon gone and all had been forgotten, to be honest sat there looking at the smile on my girlfriends face whilst watching that sunset was all to surreal. Everything seemed to slow right down as I sat there admiring the gorgeous scenery, it felt to good to be true.

The sunset we was treated to every night during our dinner

After our meal we went and sat around the pool bar and decided to get a beer each, after all we had paid to be all inclusive and we didn't want it going to waste. We had 2 beers each and headed off to bed. The morning after we got up and I felt rough, I knew it wasn't a hangover but it felt like one, I went into the bathroom to get ready and noticed a small lump on my head but thought nothing of it, we got ready and went to catch the free dolmus (bus) down to the beach. We was expecting to get dropped off on the beach front but little did we know our hotel had something going on with a bar which had its own private beach to the blue lagoon. We went in and grabbed a sun lounger each, then the camera came out, I was in love with this place, it was absolutely stunning.

This was the view from my sun lounger to my right

As you can see this place was just gorgeous. I couldn't believe I was actually here. I got up and had a little walk to my left to have a look in the water.

This was the view I had

I couldn't get the whole view into one frame as I didn't have my camera on me with the wide angle lens. So I grabbed another shot from the same spot

Another great view

I could see myself getting trigger happy here and just taking photos all day, so I walked to the end of the private beach and into the lagoon for a paddle, WOW!

This is looking out across the lagoon. The guy in the picture is Graham a guy we met in our hotel, he just turned around as I took it

We decided to rent a pedalo and check out the lagoon better. We couldn't believe how nice this place was. As we pedalled so far out we noticed para gliders in the distance.

Another lovely view of the scenery and the para gliders

We carried on pedalling in a straight line rather than trying to pedal around the whole lagoon. It was way to hot to be attempting that. As the lagoon widened we was treat to another beautiful view.

The beauty of this place was completely mind blowing

I took so many photos whilst out on the pedalo, all of which are stunning, but I would be here all week writing this blog just on the lagoon itself lol. One more photo

Yet another gorgeous view. Note how far out the swimmer is

After alot longer on the pedalo we decided to head back to the beach, when we got there I felt really dizzy and sick so I went into the bar for a sit down in the shade. My girlfriend came with me and as we sat down she gasped "Oh my god Danny, the lump on your head is huge. How do you feel? I am worried about it now. You look like the elephant man". I replied telling her "I feel like crap".

We ordered some food and a soft drink and chilled in the shade. After our meal I felt as though I was going to pass out so we got a taxi back to our hotel where I jumped straight in bed with the air conditioning unit on to cool me down. Later that day we found out the temperature at the hotel was 48.5°C at the hotel and the waiter said it can get 5°C+ hotter at the beach. So we thought this must have been why I felt so ill. But 3 litres of water later and a good sleep and I was still rough with a lump still visible on my head, so we called for a doctor who was there within 5 minutes, he checked out the lump and didn't have a clue what it was, he also checked my blood pressure which was very high at 140/100 so he sent for an ambulance which also showed up within 5 minutes. At the hospital they were very fast in doing what they did, they took blood, gave me an injection, took a urine sample, fed me and got all my results back, told me what was wrong and prescribed me with tablets in under 3 hours which I found amazing. It turned out I had had an allergic reaction to something and the sun was aggravating it so I had to stay in the shade (the only thing I never had again whilst there was the beer so we think it was this I was allergic to). GREAT, that's the end to my holiday I thought. I spent the rest of that day drinking water in the room in hope of flushing out my system and feeling better sooner.

A couple of days passed were we just lounged around the pool area (Zoe on a sun lounger and me hiding in the shade) when I finally felt up to doing things again so we splashed in the pool playing games for most of the day.

We went down into Hisaronu a couple more times checking out the shops and market to buy gifts for people back home, but other than that we didn't want to go back to the beach as it was too hot, or do trips because they all meant me being in the sun for long hours.

The centre of Hisaronu, looking back up the hill with the mountain in the back ground. The market is on the left.

So we just stayed around the pool but we still had a great time. The entertainment staff had darts, killer pool, aqua aerobics, water ballet and my favourite volleyball, all on during the day which were great to watch or join in.

The view of the pool from a sun lounger. Look at the view of the mountain behind the statue

My view from my seat in the shade. Dart players making an arch for the loser to run through as they jumped into the pool. Note the mountain in the background.

There was a rumour that our second week could get hot with temps hitting 50°C, so we were hoping these were false, sadly they weren't. The thermometer at our hotel read up to 50°C and on a few occasions it hit 50°C and also made the screen go funny due to the heat being hotter than the thermometer could read, but nobody there expected the temps to rise so high that the thermometer would blow up. People estimated it to have hit 55°C. I don't want to say what it hit as we are unsure, what we do know is, it was very hot.

So we was very suprised and relieved when we saw some low lying clouds covering the ops of the mountains, we thought it was going to rain for a while but sadly the clouds never managed to get any further than the mountain.

Our hotel sign with the cloud covering the mountain tops in the back ground

Night time entertainment wasn't really my thing at the hotel as it was mostly quiz nights, or best dressed, best couples etc, so when they said we had a belly dancing show it was abit of a suprise

Short video clip of the belly dancer

Since the evening and night times could get abit boring as we are not the kind that like to do quizzes, I decided to get my camera out and have a few cracks at photographing our pool area etc. Below is a few photos.

Early evening microlite

Close up of the microlite

Microlites flying by during the late evening

The microlites as they got closer

This place was gorgeous at night time. Note venus just above the centre of the frame

The pool bar lit up at night. It looks absolutely stunning

The Destina Statue looking good lit up against the night sky. Image credit- Zoe Hindle

The seating area around the pool and main bar, with the Hisaronu resort lights in the background. Venus is in the top left of the frame

The pool at night

It really was a gorgeous place.

More days spent in the soaring heat around the pool or in it felt amazing. We were just lazing around all day with not a care in the world, enjoying the entertainment and splashing around was awesome. We decided to buy a volleyball from the market and have abit of a laugh in the pool. I went to the opposite side of the net and the idea was to see how long we coud keep the ball out of the water with only one touch each. Much easier said than done when the breeze came blowing the light fly away ball in all directions. Within half an hour of playing with it in the pool there was another two people who had joined in, so we started playing volleyball, then not long after another two, then 4 kids. It was quite cool having a small game of volleyball with a bunch of people we didnt know, especially when it wasn't put on by the entertainment staff.

As the end of the holiday appraoched I was feeling much better, so I did a photography session on the people playing volleyball (I still wasn't up to joining in myself). When the professional photographer saw me we ended up chatting and comparing cameras. He was laughing at mine with it being a Fujifilm s6500, and he had a top of the range Canon. The laughter soon stopped when he saw the quality of images I was getting using my camera. This was quite a nice feeling having a professional call my photography good.

The photographer also getting photos of the volleyball match

Anyway back to the volleyball which was a great laugh, the referee (Christine) would call whether she thought the ball was in or out, either way it didnt matter as she would get a soaking by all the lads, it was great to watch.
Below is a few photos and short video clip of a game

Great leaping

Look at the concentration on his face

Serving

Great diving. Total dedication

SPLASH! Whoops, missed it.

Connected perfectly. Look at the shape of the ball

Well the end of the holiday was upon us so we had to pack our belongings, in all honesty we was quite happy doing this. We were both looking forward to getting home and seeing our families and friends. I was looking forward to some food we hadn't had in a while along with some Heinz Ketchup lol.

On thursday 15th July, we went to reception and paid to keep our room on till the coach collected us at 16.50. We then got ready and waited around for it to get there. Would you believe it, it was late, we checked out at 16.30 so we was ready for when the coach showed up and it didnt arrive until 17.25, we were a little annoyed but we thought its ok its less time we will have to spend in the airport. Wrong again. We got there and had our things scanned walked through to check in only to find out our flight due to depart at 20.55 was delayed until 23.10. We were livid, due to the fact we hadnt had anything to eat with the time the coac got us and Dalaman airport charges scandalous prices. We finally checked in and went to find a seat, none, so we walked around the airport checking the prices of the food. We couldnt believe what we was seeing, a burger was £11.50. We decided we would rather starve and get something at home but by 21.30 we was to hungry and had to get something. We ordered a burger, with fries and a coke from a little snack bar, £9. We couldnt believe it.

As the night wore on we were getting tired and stressed, we just wanted to get on the plane and get back to Manchester. The gates finally opened at 22.30. We went hoping to board straight away so we could get comfy in our seats but they made us wait around till 23.00hrs before allowing us to get on. Finally in our seat and ready to and the pilot came on the speaker, apologising for the delay and explained how it had been in the hangar for routine maintenance. It needed new brakes and tyres, everybody on the plane gave out a loud groan and you could here some getting rather nervous. He then apologised that the work was over run so he ended up leaving Manchester late to get us. I just said to my girlfriend "I wish he would shut up and get us airbourne already". He then said we would be delayed a further 20 minutes as their colleagues in Brussels wouldnt give them the go ahead, anyway cut along story short, we eventually made out way to the run way about 10 minutes later. We was taxying around the last corner and we were all getting excited, you heard the engines rev louder then all of a sudden I was thrown back into my seat as we motored down the runway. Eventually we was off the ground, my head felt like it was going to explode, within minutes the plane was shaking as we were hitting small pockets of turbulence.

Eventually, the seatbelt light went off and we were able to stretch our legs and go to the toilet. Not for long though as the turbulence had been almost constant since take off and it was starting to get worse, the seatbelt sign was back on. I was trying to watch the in flight movie 'Sherlock Holmes' but I was bouncing around in my seat so much the screen was just a blur, so I tried to go to sleep. Not a chance. The plane was shaking about to much. It wasn't violent turbulence but it was bad enough. 3 hours had passed and the plane had hardly stopped shaking luckily for us the seatbelt sign was only on for 20 minutes or so. The view out of the window was just black with the odd street light until we started passing over the cities etc but still nothing special.

The pilot came on the speaker telling us the weather in Manchester was pretty chilly at 15°C, combined with rain and high winds which were very gusty. He told us this was going to make the final part of our decent pretty rocky, he also said it was nothing to be concerned about but it would get very uncomfortable. The next minute the plane dropped, It felt like my stomach was about to come out of my mouth. Most people on the plane gave out a loud scream and the guy sat next to me said he was going to be sick. I just laughed and shouted were on the big one, which seemed to get a few people laughing. I kept looking out of the window but there was nothing but cloud up against the window. A cool sight was to be seen though, rain falling inside the clouds.

Finally we broke through the clouds and we must have been no more than 1000ft above the ground. A few lights could be seen in the distance, then there was just cloud, the next minute we could see most of Manchester, thats when we realised the plane was really swaying, I couldn't help myself and shouted "we are going to land on the wing", all the people in the middle seats who didnt have a window view screamed, then we felt the plane rock, a quick view out of the window and we were very low and almost sideways. At this point it should have been a cause for concern but like a freak, I was enjoying it, so I shouted "we're going to land on the roof" more screams, I then looked at my girlfriend who hates landings and told her we was going to crash, she screamed at me telling me to shut up, I laughed and carried on looking out of the window. We were just a few feet off the ground when the plane finally stopped rocking, then we touched down, a hard but good landing considering the conditions.

We made our way through passport patrol and collected our cases then headed off to the carpark to meet my parents who had volunteered to pick us up. We got in the car and told them about our holiday and the flights etc. Then they told me what I didnt want to hear. Wednesday night they had witnessed the most impressive storm of the year so far, two of which lasted over an hour each. I was gutted as they told me the details.

We carried on down the motorway were clouds dominated the night sky. Soon breaking across the Northern half allowing a beautiful NLC display to appear. This display was they best I had seen this year. It seemed to be a type 5 display with veil and type IIIb waves. On the eastern side of the display was an awesome looking complex structure I would say was a 'O'. A very nice display indeed to end an eventful 2 weeks. Sadly though was to tired to even think about taing photos, afterall I had been up for 22 hours.

I hope you enjoyed my story. Thanks for reading.

Danny Power

Weekend Action & June 29th Storm

2010-06-29T15:37:00.000+01:00

Well the weather has been very nice to sun lovers over the last week or so. I must admit it has been lovely having some nice warm sunshine and lovely blue sky with the odd contrail or whispy cirrus cloud gliding past.

The down side to this is there hasnt been much happening in the way of storms, well not until the morning of June 29th 2010.

Lets go back to the weekend beginning 26th June and start from the beginning.

Well the weekend had looked quite promising for much of the UK with high CAPE values for much of the country. Over N.Ireland it was looking quite promising for the whole weekend where chasers there were keeping a close eye on the charts, radar and sattelite so they could make a judgement on were to head out to. Martin McKenna of www.nightskyhunter.com was out on the chase on saturday with Connor McDonald in hope of catching another monster cell, this they did, on both days. Please visit his site at the upper link for more info.

I was sat at home watching the radar and sattelite myself, and I kept a close eye on the sky for any signs of deep convection. All day from mid morning convection was taking place but the dominating high pressure was putting a cap to it and preventing it from exploding into life.

Above is the convection not being able to hold and falls apart.

As the day wore on the convection was becoming more and more meaningful, and by evening the cap seemed to have given way allowing the convection to explode, and explode it did. All across the southern portion of the sky, deep convection was taking place with towers shooting up at quite an alarming rate, the classic 'cauliflower' appearance formed on the clouds.

Above is the convection finally rising in the SE

After seeing this going up I started to get excited. I thought we were going to finally get a good storm with lightning atlast. Another look out a while later showed more convection forming.

More cauliflower in the sky. This is looking east

My girlfriend picked me up and we went back to her house, closer to the higher ground in hope of a better vantage point. Sadly this proved to be a waste of time, so we went in hers whilst she ate her dinner. I kept looking out of the window to keep an eye on the convection to see if it was able to organise. Sadly it didnt and the whole thing just fell apart so saturday was a bust day.

Sunday and the GFS wasnt being so nice to us, with low CAPE values over the NW, but I already knew through previous marginal set ups that rotation and funnels were possible in a low CAPE environment. A look at the different weather forecasting sites showed us to be in a thunderstorm watch area. I checked the GFS again, this time checking everything not just CAPE.

It still wasnt looking to good for me but the east coast of England and into Yorkshire was looking promising and being not to far away from Yorkshire there was always that small chance a cell or 2 popping up and moving over, although this seemed very unlikely I had to wish.

But this is what was happening:-

The high pressure that had dominated the UK was to break down slightly and exit the UK into the North Sea thanks to an upper trough associated with a depression centred off the NW coast of Scotland. By 18z, GFS was suggesting that temperatures of 24C and dew-points of up to 20C would be present. SBCAPE was forecast to reach up to 1400 J/Kg and MLCAPE of around 750-1000 J/Kg by 18z, and LI down to -6. A tounge of moist air would extend over the region at 850hPa. Although there was some doubt as to the extent in the severity of the convection there was the potential due to deep layer shear of around 30knts which may help any convection/storms contain themselves. A convergence zone where a sea-breeze contacts the environmental flow could allow convection to develop and provide enough low-level shear for the development of some funnel clouds and perhaps some tornadoes, which should largely be weak in nature.

So it was looking like there was potential for some decent storms, perhaps the odd funnel and maybe even a weak tornado/spout to form.

Skywarn Uk had an AMBER warning out for the East of England, East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber. Which made me feel abit gutted that yet again we wasnt in it.

I was hoping that with the clear skies and baking sun that dirunal heating would occur and cause the marginal set up of 200j/kg to cause some convection to occur. This has happened before and we got some awesome rotating cells and a funnel form.

It seems as though the flat land from the coast and the hills of the Darwen Moors and the Pennines come into play alot in my location causing convergence zones through the orographic lifting and sea breeze fronts, so marginal set ups are often good set ups here.

Although im in what seems a prime location far marginal set up events, nothing happened which was a shame, I knew deep down nothing would. A little look through the different forecasting sites and there was talk of storms breaking out on monday but the GFS didnt confirm it, so I forgot about the weather for one day.

On Monday the 28th June there was still talk of possible storms developing throughout the UK during the day. Another look at the GFS again didnt confirm anything it just looked as though clouds and rain could form in the afternoon before the weather was to turn more unsettled during the night. A look at the Met Office site again just showed showers forecast before heavy rain was to move in. I knew a cold front was pushing in during the night from the west but with only small CAPE and positive LI's being shown on the GFS I just assumed it would rain. But boy was I wrong.

I went to bed monday night at around 22.00hrs, but I could'nt sleep, I was getting a little excited at the fact I go to Olu Deniz in Turkey for a 2 weeks all inclusive holiday on July 1st. So I lay in bed with my ipod on hoping to pass time until I was tired enough to nod off. I checked the time and it was now 23.54hrs so I decided it was time to turn the ipod off and try to go asleep without any aid. I rolled over and sat my ipod on my bedside table, this is when I heard the rain battering off my bedroom window. It was so peaceful knowing I was inside a nice warm room laying on a comfy bed whilst the rain was pouring down outside. It was nothing out of the ordinary so I just closed my eyes and drifted off. It was quite a warm muggy night, which made sleeping a little awkward, so I kept drifting in and out of sleep, I could hear the rain still on my window, it had calmed down alot so I opened my window a little wider to let more cooler air enter my room. Whilst at the window I had a look around the sky but it was just full of low lying rain clouds so I jumped back in bed I fell back asleep almost straight away.

A little while later I was awakened by a loud bang, it sounded like an explosion, I dived up out of bed wondering what on earth was going on, I looked out of the window again to see flashes across the sky. It was thundering. Big beautiful blue and purple C-g's lit up the night sky, more I'c's shot across the sky but strangely no more rumbles occured for quite some time. After a few minutes of an awe inspiring lightning extravaganza the rain bands swept in, each one heavier than the last until the core struck. Flashes lit up the rain and low lying cloud in more beautiful blues and purples. The rain was stupidly heavy and lasted for atleast 10 minutes, more flashes still lit up the sky as it moved from west to east. Eventually the sky started clearing as this cell moved on, a nice clear sector formed where a few stars could be seen. Behind this clear slot was another cell forming giving off the odd flash, but all the sky was still being lit by flashes from the 1st cell so I went onto the landing so I could see the back end of the 1st cell as it left. The most insane cloud to cloud flash I have ever seen occured, it was bright blue and extended across most of the south eastern sky. At this point I realised I hadnt used my camera for any of it, so I dashed back into my room grabbed it and dashed back onto the landing. I tried getting a photo but due to the street lights the photos were over exposed so I decided to film it. Sadly it was moving away quite quickly so I only managed a few minutes were only a few strikes happened.

I decided to go back to my room to see if the cell behind was still producing but it was'nt, it seemed to have moved on a slightly more eastern track so it had passed by without getting to me. With this happening and the sky not looking favourable for more lightning I decided to get back in bed and call it a night. A few hours later around 06.00hrs I was awoke to yet another bang. Another cell had moved in. I couldnt believe my luck. I was up again watching but the flashes were dim and I only knew most of them had occured when I heard the rumbles. I was tempted to stay up and keep a track of it and see if anymore cells were approaching, but I decided sleep was more important and got back into bed. Good call on my behalf as only rain fell all morning. When I got up at 07.45 I decided to check the charts and the Sferics. Look at what had happened:-

Look at the state of the strike rate for a night time storm. Pretty impressive

A look at the Met Office sattelite showed the earlier cell nicely as it had moved east and steadily strengthened.

I decided to have a quick check on facebook to see what others had said about the nights events. People were complaining that they could'nt sleep because the thunder was to loud. Others were frightened and wanted it to stop.

Then a check onto the GFS and the latest run was showing some good CAPE at 500-600j/kg with LI down to -2. Amazing how each run can differ so much from the last.

With the first thunder storm I have seen this year in the bag I can honestly say I am over the moon as this was the best thunderstorm I have seen since July 2009. It was definatley worth the lack of sleep and I hope to see more when I return to the UK. I am now definatley ready for my holiday and you never know, I could be chasing in Turkey next.

4th June Storm, Catch Up & 2010 Review

2010-06-07T14:18:00.001+01:00

Well the weather is finally starting to come to life at long last. Although we have seen some bizzarre weather across the UK this year the events have been quite spread out, whereas on the average year many t-storms would have hit the UK already by now. Sadly this year its not been the case so far, but atleast when we have had a little something it has been truly spectacular.

2010 has had and is supposedly due some of the coolest weather to hit the UK in decades. The freezing winter which had us in its grip for months saw temperatures plummit to -20°C, also bringing record amounts of snowfall in years to most places along with abit of thundersnow!

Above are two of my favourite images I took during the extreme winter. Although they dont exactly show the severity of the snow, they are beautiful winter scenes.

Since the winter, we have experienced quite a dry year with plenty of sunny days and over the past 8 weeks these have been hot hot hot. Also the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted and the jet stream and Northerly winds helped bring the ash to the UK and Europe which disrupted the aviation industry quite badly but these ash clouds made for some beautiful sunsets. There was even the twin waterspouts off the coast of Ireland and the twin funnel clouds which appeared to be west of Ballynure, and North west of Ballyclare in Ireland. Not forgetting the funnel clouds I saw earlier in the year and the large rotating cell which passed a few weeks back, there has also been a multi vortex tornadic event in Maghera N.Ireland.

Most recently from the 4 to the 6th june the UK has had some pretty amazing thunderstorms, mainly in the midlands and further south but the night time storm that hit was out of this world. Also during this weekend there was an awesome rotating cell over Lough Neagh captured by Martin Mckenna and Connor Mcdonald. More info at www.nightskyhunter.com

Well the 4th june 2010 was not the most exciting day I have had but it was far from being the worse. I got up and checked the internet and I was a little excited as the GFS and weather forecast was hinting at thunderstorms developing by late afternoon early evening. Sadly though before the storms were going to happen I had to go to the unit were I was stuck helping my dad all day, it was very hot and humid and really wasnt the weather you wanted to be moving big heavy skips about in or welding in for that matter, but sadly that is what we had to do.

During the day I had popped outside a few times just to get abit of fresh air and have a quick view of the sky, things wernt looking to promising by lunch time as the clouds were rolling in blocking the sun from doing its thing. It was really muggy and sticky though so I kept my fingers crossed and headed back inside. A little while later my dad recieved a phone call from my sister telling us to head outside as a wagon had tried driving under a low bridge and had ripped its trailor into bits, so whilst I was out checking this I had to check the sky also. Things were looking a little better as the clouds had started burning away.

The heat had drained the energy from us by mid afternoon so at 16.00 BST my dad said come on its home time. A big smile appeared on my face and I quickly turned the equipment off and grabbed my things ready to get in the car. Another look at the sky and minor convection could be seen taking place to the south. I was now finally getting excited. By the time we had arrived home low level cloud was rolling in blocking my view of the convection I had seen earlier, so I went in, loaded up the laptop and had a quick check to see what the radar and sattellite was showing. The radar was showing dark echoes slowly moving North towards me, in all honesty they looked like they was going to miss me by a mile or so, so I decided to go for a shower.

Whilst I was in the shower the bathroom kept getting darker, then the rain started, I quickly got cleaned up and got a towel and had a look out of the bedroom window, I was looking at a really dark base and a dark rain curtain quickly moving towards me, I quickly got dry and threw some clothes on and grabbed the camera, ran downstairs but I was to late to capture the heavy rain curtain. My dad noticed one flash of lightning out to the west, but as I was on the eastern side of the house getting images of the cell so I didnt see it, but I did hear the rumble which was quite distant.

Above is the base of the passing Cb

I know the above images aren't the best but they do show how dark this cell was, it did produce alot of rain in a short space of time.

The forecast is for more thunderstorms over the next few days so hopefully more photo ops shortly.

As I type this a friend has just been round telling me of a funnel cloud possibly a tornado abut a mile away from my house. The sky is currently very black with whales mouth. I am currently looking into the situation and awaiting photos. I wll keep you updated.

WOW. May 27th 2010 Funnel Cloud & Rotating Cloud Base

2010-05-28T19:17:00.000+01:00

WOW, Its kind of hard to tell you in writing how I feel about what I saw lastnight but I will try my best.

An amazing event here lastnight in Blackburn.

I had checked the GFS in the morning before college to find the weather was going to be pretty boring over my town for the forseeable future so I planned a chilled night infront of the TV with my girlfriend.

I got college at around 09.00 and the sky was pure black and very stormy looking. During my 1st period the clouds cleared allowing diurnal heating to take place and it was pretty warm sat in class in the sunshine, then as I was on my break 10.30-11 the clouds rolled in, really thick and black again, some nice updraught towers could be seen to the side of the dark clouds, then the rain came, landing on the floor larger than a 2p coin. I couldnt believe it, light showers had been forecast and here I was being hit by large rain drops. Then I got battered with hail stone. I thought it was going to thunder for a while but nothing happened. Today was a little strange with how it was panning out. The GFS had shown only low amounts of CAPE for my location so I was amazed to see large rain drops, hailstone and decent convection. Then I had to go back to lesson and a suspicious lowering formed, but I think it was just scud.

I got home and there was patchy cumulus clouds scattered all over the sky but the sun was beaming through and it felt very warm until the bitter wind blew though my garden, making it feel very cold indeed. Abit of decent looking convection was taking place just to my south but I didnt think it would come to much. I was right, it didnt.

Later that night I was at my girlfriends house watching How I Met Your Mother when at around 21.45 I recieved a phone call off my dad saying 'Danny you need to look at the sky asap, theres lots of rotation going on at the top of our street'. (My girlfriend lives 2 miles away from my house and her bedroom window looks in the direction towards my house.) I could see dark couds in the direction my dad told me to look but nothing more. My dad said I should get home as quick as possible to see it as there were lowerings coming down then going back into the cloud before lowering again. He said there were a few places were lowerings were appearing but none were organising and wrapping up tightly to form into a funnel cloud. We quickly jumped into the car and drove back to my house as we entered the estate we could see much more of the cloud base than at any other part of our trip home. My eyes immediatley looked up to see a wide portion of the sky rotating. I was gob smacked, as soon as the car stopped I dived out to get a better view, I couldnt believe what I was seeing. The sky was so low and moving so fast that scud was constantly dropping from the cloud base in all directions. I could feel my heart beating faster as the adrenaline built up, I didnt know were to look or what to do, I was just amazed as its not everyday you see a large portion of the sky rotating like this.

I kept looking around for a lowering of any significance but the only thing I could see was scud. After a minute I ran into the house to grab the camera then ran straight back outside and got my eyes on the sky once more. My dad asked if he had done the right thing in ringing me to tell me, my girlfriend said no, she doesnt like severe weather or storms they kind of freak her out a little and with the sky above her head rotating she felt a little scared. I was stood in the middle of the street in my element absolutley loving every second and said 'dad you did the right thing' lol.

I kept scanning the sky but nothing of significance was occuring, then to my east a lowering, it was tight, black, and looking promising, I watched it for a moment as it lowered then rose into the cloud base before lowering again, I was getting excited by this point, I was stood in a rain free base, rotation taking place above my head, a lowering forming less than half a mile away and the wind was picking up nicely as you would expect. Then without warning the funnel dissapeared, I kept scanning the eastern part of the sky as I knew if a funnel would appear it would be there. Then it looked like a small wall cloud was forming, this really sent my adrenaline into overdrive. My dad was stood at the front door scanning the sky and my girlfriend was asking what it was we was filming. I shouted my dad who was by now overwhelmed with the events so far, he couldnt take his eyes off it. About one minute passed when a lowering from the small wall cloud appeared. This was it, it has to be it, please let this be it, were the only things running through my mind. Sure enough, it was it. A funnel cloud was forming. Within just a few seconds it had grown about 15% from the cloud base. I thought it was going to touch down, more and more cloud was being drawn into it at quite an alarming rate. The winds picked up quite significantly as the funnel got lower and lower, wider and wider, 'if this thing grew vertical it would be on the ground already' I said to my girlfriend, whos fear seemed to have vanished with the excitement thanks to this event.

I watched as I felt the winds getting stronger, 'is she going to touch down, we might have a tornado on the ground any moment now' I shouted. I was so excited, the hair on my hands and arms were stood on end and I had a tingling sensation running down my spine. The funnel was so long now it was unreal, this would easily have been on the ground now had it not grown on an angle. A couple of minutes passed and the funnel had grown in length and width quite quite alot. But then quicker than it formed it roped out and broke up. I was gutted. The rotation from the cloud base had slowed quite significantly, I really thought I would have been reporting a tornado but it wasnt to be. I waited around a while to see if anything else materialised, it didnt. I went back inside to view the video footage but as its a digital camera and not a camcorder the quality was really poor. (Most of it is blurry, which is a real shame. I have uploaded it to my laptop and it gets worse so I will take stills from it tonight and add the images to the blog later). On the drive back to my girlfriends I was still staring at the sky hoping to see something but it wasnt to be.

Sadly no tornado this time around but theres still a long time before the summer storm season ends and the autumn one begins. I have now seen two definate funnel clouds this year both being viewed from my home, and both would have touched down had they grown vertical from the cloud base. I would love to bag another tornado in Blackburn, I have a feeling this year I will bag it aswel.

If you liked reading this event then please stay tuned and check this blogspot regularly as you never know when or where mother nature will strike next.

Few and Far Between

2010-05-07T17:42:00.001+01:00

Well this years storms have been few and far between here in the UK, but when storms have arrived they havent dissapointed. Sadly I havent been able to chase as such as of yet due to needing a new ecu for the car, but luckily I havent exactly needed to. A few cells have passed by producing lots of rain and gusty winds as they have passed over me and they have then gone on to produce lots of lightning to my east, one such cell formed outside my bedroom window, as cumulus clouds formed and slowly moved in off the west coast, they suddenly began to rise rapidly becoming cumulus congestus in the matter of minutes, 3 tall towers standing tall side by side began to organise into one of the best looking cumulonimbus clouds (Cb) I have seen in a while. I quickly loaded up the rain radar and satellite to see if this monster was being tracked. It was.

I was really hoping for a showdown and as the low lying cloud moved away I could clearly see this things solid structure, with nice crisp anvil and a very dark base with two rain curtains, so the adrenaline really got going as it looked like it was about to kick off big time.

I was sat at the window with the camera at the ready, watching as it moved closer, and with the eerie silence you get before a storm I really thought I was about to witness the 1st lightning in Blackburn since the 'thundersnow' back in january. But it just wasnt to be my day, the cell moved over me dropping a deluge of rain and bringing with it some strong winds. Eventually the core of the storm had passed and things seemed to settle down so I got the camera and went outside to see if there was anything worth photographing. There was still some dark low lying cloud about and a rainbow but it looked like that would be it for the day. Sadly, it was.

After this exciting event I thought it would be a while before I would see some more action but I was wrong, just two days later and the GFS was showing weak CAPE of 200J/kg and an LI of -1. Not much I know but with the potential for some convection to take place and small amounts of shear, I had to keep an eye on the sky just incase something out of the ordinary happened especially since a cold front was pushing in from the Irish Sea, which would give the buoyant air the lift it would need to rise.

At around 10am BST I had a look outside and saw the 1st signs of the cold front approaching. The sky was full of altocumulus clouds which was quite a cool sight.

This was the view from the girlfriends street of the altocumulus.

I went back inside and waited for another hour then went out for another look. Jackpot, the 1st signs of convection were taking place out on the western horizon. A few cumulus clouds had formed and started to clump together, with this happening to the west I figured the cold front must be here. A quick look at the GFS and synoptic charts showed it to be on my door step, with the rain radar showing rain off the west coast approaching my location. Luckily this day the girlfriend was off work so we went for a drive to my vantage point to see if we could get a better view.

This is the view looking to the Northwest with plenty of small cumulus clouds starting to form over most of the sky.

We stayed here for a while and watched the clouds as they grouped together and started to organise into a much bigger cell. A quick look to the Southwest and some nice crepuscular rays were peeping through the cloud.

The rain eventually hit and was quite heavy. Sadly though all the images I got are ruined through the rain drops on the window and camera lens. We decided to head away from here to try and get infront of the cell and away from the rain.

It was then I got this image of the cells structure and couldnt help myself from keeping it as it made my day that little more worth while. (Maybe of poor quality due to the raindrops but it shows its structre so I might aswel post it).

Sadly a phone call to the girlfriend meant we had to end the chase early and go home.

Luckily for me though the action came back after the period of high pressure with abit of a gift for me. The sky was looking quite boring during most of the day but as the afternoon wore on the clouds started to roll in and the radar was showing solid echoes appraoching me bringing lots of rain. The radar looked to have a little bit of a hook to it but our radar isn't doppler and its almost impossible to tell.

I kept an eye on the sky as it started to darken quite considerably and another look at the radar showed the echoes to have decreased quite considerably. I was thinking at this point that it would just be the usual rain cloud that would pass me by and I would be left waiting to see some action yet again but I was wrong.

I looked out of the window and the sky looked quite low just to the west, I watched it for a few seconds and i noticed the cell was rotating and a lowering was forming in the area of rotation. I was getting really excited and grabbed the camera, I kept watching it for a few minutes and a 'nipple' formed from the base of the rotating lowering (possibly a rotating wall cloud).

This whole lowering you can see in the above image was rotating at quite a speed but sadly the nipple didnt get to much bigger so I don't want to call it a funnel cloud. I watched it for a while until everything seemed to slow down and break up then all was gone. Hopefully more will be on the way soon

The Start to 2010 and 26th March Funnel Cloud

2010-04-30T19:16:00.000+01:00

Well this year has been action packed when it comes to the weather. A winter we will never forget with temperatures dropping to -20°C. High pressure that remained for weeks bringing some nice pretty warm days and hardly any precip which made a change to the 'April Showers' we usually get. A volcanic eruption that grounded planes for a week causing passengers to be stranded abroad, but it made for a few days of awesome volcanic ash sunsets. Thunderstorms that have produced numerous funnels (one being here in Blackburn) and a tornado in the south, and other thunderstorms which have knocked the power out in towns and cities. One storm cell recently passed over Maghera, Northern Ireland which produced a multi vortex tornado visit http://www.nightskyhunter.com/ for more information. And to top it off the Aurora Borealis (The Northern Lights) has been visible from the UK numerous times already this year.

Many of the chasers here in the UK believe 2010 is going to be a season to remember and although it has started slow it has also started with a bang.

The last week of March was showing the first real signs of convection taking place and on march 22nd a nice scene formed in the western sky as clouds took on a strange formation known as 'the whales mouth'.

The above cloud formation 'whales mouth' is generated via the cooler air sinking and undercutting warmer air thus pushing it aloft. The combination of sinking and rising of different airmass densities creates this effect. It is truly stunning especially when most of the sky is filled by it.

Sadly I had to help my dad out so I wasnt able to keep an eye out on the sky for large portions of the day. When I got home my mum told us that they had alot of rain during the day and that it went very dark and grim for a while but luckily there was no thunder. The sky was still looking quite promising as evening approached then to my east even more nice better cloud formations took place with a few small mammatus clouds hanging from a deteriorating cell.

The above images showing a few of the mammatus bags. The image below is to the side of the mammatus where a whales mouth effect was going on.

On march 26th the GFS was looking good for large sections of the UK, the north west region being a part of this. I spent the morning charging my batteries and checking radar and satellite sites to see where any activity was taking place when eventually the Sferics started picking up on lightning about 30 miles to my south. Another look at the radar showed the cell moving towards me. Convection was taking place all over the sky throughout the day with the southern and western sky showing the strongest areas of instability. Sadly I didnt have any wheels to get out and chase so I was stuck at home looking out the window and running into the garden between showers to get a look at the sky.
Eventually a cell moved in and dropped some rain but sadly no lightning although a few rumbles could be heard in the distance not long before it arrived. My day was looking good when a funnel formed wrapping up tightly as she span quickly, growing in length rapidly, but sadly never really grew downwards towards the ground. It only lasted about a minute before it roped out and I can almost guarantee if it had grown directly towards the ground then this would more than likely have touched down.

After this nothing really happened apart from a few showers, but it was a very exciting day. Sadly this photo is of poor quality and just doesn't do the funnel justice.