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.
No comments:
Post a Comment