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

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

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