Thunderstorms Thread

Snowbie

Must have posted same time.No still on.My only explanation is that it was a massive intra cloud spanning nearly four counties here.A few of us posted the same thing just after it hapened.Im NDublin, EM in Arklow yourself and post from kilcock too.
It must be a huge signature that detector could not pinpoint the exact location.

Snowbie

aidan_dunne wrote:

Yeah Snowbie, either there's been one hell of a strong singal outputting from that strike or whatever it was to effect so many people over such a wide area at the same time, as you say, or maybe lightning has hit a power station or substation somewhere to cause what we've just seen.

That is also a possibility.Strange thing though.

aidan_dunne

Wow, that's something else then! :eek: I know that lightning and, in particular, intracloud lightning can travel quite a distance, especially if it happens to leave a cloud, but to manage to effect people over such a wide area as you say Snowbie? Could it be that that's what happened, that it was a large strike maybe high up in the atmosphere that left the cloud and travelled? I'm no expert so I'm just guessing here.

Snowbie

There is a colossal amount of rain heading my way but unfortunately no strikes from it as yet.The first batch of rain only left 0.8mm,but i think it is going to make up for that now in awhile.No strikes since that output.

Theres a huge echo curving southeastwards just southwest of Dublin through kildare into wicklow not to mention whats north of Dublin now heading south and also tending to curve south east.

It could be an interesting and very wet night.I predict more thunder as the energy in that system is not abating much.

Snowbie

aidan_dunne wrote:

Wow, that's something else then! :eek: I know that lightning and, in particular, intracloud lightning can travel quite a distance, especially if it happens to leave a cloud, but to manage to effect people over such a wide area as you say Snowbie? Could it be that that's what happened, that it was a large strike maybe high up in the atmosphere that left the cloud and travelled? I'm no expert so I'm just guessing here.

After all the nearby storms i have had in the last three months,not once did the lights flicker and i mean from storms just up the road too a mile away.
Intra cloud lightning CAN travel a distance alright,be up vertical or horizontal branching throughout CBs
The sky out there is positively charged over most of the country and now especially the eastern half so i think personally the main bolt occured around probably Blessington area give or take a few miles and bolts ejected out in a few directions.
Or it could have hit a pylon in the mtns causing a surge but i dont know if were all on the same grid.

Lightning can often cause powercuts here in the sticks but its rare in the towns.
I've seen some of the damage it does to transformers and fuses,literally melting them.
It could strike a pole and surge along a powerline for several miles away from where the thunderstorm is and do the damagee at the end of the line,in fact thats usually where the damage is done.

In recent years, the ESB have installed trip fuses in several places along lines so as to limit the damage from surges like that.

Just started to rain here again lightly

Snowbie

Rainin here now again on and off

That big area of red and pink is sliding nicely into wicklow now.
It has mothmans name on it and possibly here too.

Snowbie

Looks like there is alot more to follow, i wonder if the rain band now over us will start to intensyfy now over land to produce more TS.Ok no land convection but lots of instability upon us.But i will doubt that will happen.

aidan_dunne

Absolutely chucking it down here in Portlaoise at the moment. Really heavy, thundery kind of rain. I think it could very well be a very wet and interesting night as Earthman suggested. I don't think we're done with it all quite yet.

mike65

We had some fantasticly heavy showers at around 9-9.30 pm and some lightening and thunder at around 11-11.15 pm.

Mike.

No more thunder

Moderate rain now

wind sw 5mph

1003.4mb rising slowly



Rained all night the current total since 330pm yesterday is 20.4mm and rising



It's heaven for the drought stricken fields

sunset

Out of contact all last night but you will like to know there was a massive supercell over the sw side Cork city (so clear - I was very close), a very clear funnel cloud half way to ground just to the east of Cork airport, lightning and torrential rain. Most of the action was from 430-645pm. Wow!

lucernarian

Btw it's a bit late to mention it but mthe lights were flickering here north of Drogheda at about 10.30 pm. I can't remember the exact time but one dim in particular had me thinking the electricity was about to go out.

Danno

Some thunder and lightning with very heavy downpours around 00.45 last night here in south Laois.

darkman2

Showers developing in the North Midlands. Could turn thundery later. May have a baring on the East Coast and Dubliin. Winds off shore so that gives us a better chance:)

SpitfireIV

I was in a car just leaving Cork city yesterday when that torrential downpour happened. By god I never seen anything like it, needless to say it was impossible to drive as you couldnt see the car in front of you :eek: , a few flashes of lightening and a few rumbles, but nothing of any significance that I could see from inside the car.

lucernarian

The mother and father of a downpour hit us at about 5.30 and continued rather sporadically for a further 20 minutes. I'd say the best part of an inch of rain fell, it was that heavy. Sadly there was no lightning to accompany it.

To_be_confirmed

To_be_confirmed wrote:

The mother and father of a downpour hit us at about 5.30 and continued rather sporadically for a further 20 minutes.

was really bad here in Dundalk too between 7 - 7.30pm, roads flooded everywhere.

nacho libre

Has ball lightning ever been seen in Ireland?

How exactly does this phenomenon occur?

Snowbie

nacho libre wrote:

Has ball lightning ever been seen in Ireland?

How exactly does this phenomenon occur?

Unknown.
There are a lot of theories on Ball lightning or ST Elmos fire.Here is one.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s520317.htm

Personally have never seen one.

highdef

Anyone know what the story with that blob of very heavy looking rain moving from the west? It's affecting the middle part of the country and looks like it will hit Dublin in a few hours. Looks like Galway got a hammering from it.

It might turn thundery later but theres nothing there at present bar the very heavy rain.

Hal1

If predictions are correct from this graph for the next 12 hours, it could well offer a TS or two. We shall see.

Snowbie

Some towering cumulus about here alright but not in much of showers atm.
Echoes seemed to have fragmented over midlands but there does seem to be convection on the up here.

Constant booming thunder here now from a storm about 4 miles west of here over croghan mountain.


It's like a re run of last friday as theres still a bit of a sea breeze blowing agianst the storm,yet it is still approaching.



It's got a mighty impressive wall.

Mothman

Tristrame wrote:

Constant booming thunder here now from a storm about 4 miles west of here over croghan mountain.


It's like a re run of last friday as theres still a bit of a sea breeze blowing agianst the storm,yet it is still approaching.



It's got a mighty impressive wall.

And here!!! just to my west.

Looks like potential for thunder the whole way up the east coast.

http://www.met.ie/weathermaps/latest_radar.gif

Wow look at that line of pink from rosslare up through wexford with the red dot just west of Arklow on the 5pm image.

(this is the poster formally known as Earthman by the way)

Very dark now,like night again with the thunder booming.

Periscopes down.

Internet being switched off