Convective/Thunderstorm Discussion 2013/14

Video

Can anyone explain these cells to me ? how do they increase in intensity over land... im just starting to get into a bit of a meteorology hobby and i'm a total n00b... this is from netweather today showing lightning strikes within the past hour

Iancar29

Video , inland convection initiates due to surface heating . The sun heats the ground the the air around it rises . Helps build the cumulus clouds , and if theres instability in the atmosphere then those clouds will rise further and turn into Cumulonimbus clouds

Harps

Video wrote: »

Can anyone explain these cells to me ? how do they increase in intensity over land... im just starting to get into a bit of a meteorology hobby and i'm a total n00b... this is from netweather today showing lightning strikes within the past hour

It's a complex setup but the main reason is convection, the sun warms up the air near ground level, this air rises and cools one it gets high up. Cold air can't hold as much moisture as warm air so the water vapour condenses to form clouds. If you get strong convection then these clouds become too heavy and basically burst to give heavy showers and thunderstorms. It doesn't really happen in winter but will hopefully be more common from now on

Good convective weather is probably the most exciting weather we get in this country on the rare occasions when all the factors come together, well worth reading up on if you have an interest in it all!

Colser

corkeweather wrote: »

Thunder/heavy downpour near Roches Point in Cork

We were sitting out near the coastline at Ringaskiddy earlier...sun splitting the stones but heard what I thought was some kind of explosion followed by a few more..we then thought it must be thunder to the east as sky was pretty dark over there..did you think it was extremely loud?

sunbabe08

just heard thunder in cork city

Colser

sunbabe08 wrote: »

just heard thunder in cork city

Yea and huge haillstones...Sky box gone off...

sunbabe08

Colser wrote: »

Yea and huge haillstones...Sky box gone off...

showers down in the harbour look unreal

IT-Guy

Had a large thunderstorm here in Rathcormac, power is out and my garden is white with hailstone. Lots of lightning and some epic claps of thunder. Got a bit of it on video on the phone, will try to upload it later when power returns. Currently tethering off my phone and the battery is low, really hope they get the power sorted soon, I'm starving :pac:

blackbird99

here's a shot of one east towards clonmel, cahir direction,
[IMG][/img]

Iancar29

Only reaslising now that my post didnt go up last night.

Brilliant funnel cloud very close to the ground near millstreet cork yesterday.

piuswal

No fun around Dublin

lolie

Evelyn had that funnel cloud pic at the start of the weather this evening.
On the 6 one weather it was named a 'small tornado' but on the 9 o'clock weather it was just a 'funnel cloud'.

Super-Rush

I hate when they call it a small tornado, when it doesn't touch down.

So clueless(6 o clock news)

Video

Super-Rush wrote: »

I hate when they call it a small tornado, when it doesn't touch down.

So clueless(6 o clock news)

What damage do these do if they do touch down in ireland?

Super-Rush

Video wrote: »

What damage do these do if they do touch down in ireland?

Any actual tornado that has touched down has thankfully only caused some structural damage and trees uprooted. You wouldn't want one to hit a populated area though.

Here's one from October with a picture from our own Iancar.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mini-tornado-hits-west-of-country-608922.html

Red Nissan

Video wrote: »

What damage do these do if they do touch down in ireland?

Technically we don't get Tornadoes. We do get 40 touch down events every year and an estimate EF3 is the largest type of event we'd get. Our events would be quite short lived too on average, last year we had experience of two incidents that actually left tracks in Ireland destroying vehicles and farm buildings as it went.

We've all probably experienced these mezzocyclone funnels rain wrapped so we can't actually see them but a sudden unmerciful downpour often accompanied by the cry of the Banshee.

highdef

Was almost clear until about 90 minutes ago. Then a few fair weather cumulus popped up and now I'm seeing a fair bit of Cu congestus. The clouds forming over the Dublin/Wicklow mountains seem to be getting ever large. Perhaps some mountain effect showers (or dare I say it, thunderstorms) to come, also aided by a sea breeze? 17.3 here, after a peak of 18 about a half hour ago.

Storm 10

That front just passed over Galway we had torrential rain and squally wind but no sparks, I was sure we were going to have something it got so dark.

Hammer Archer

First day in Germany and I'm greeted by widespread thunderstorms

Iancar29

Tornado in Italy(aka eu's tornado alley) today

http://video.gelocal.it/gazzettadimodena/locale/campazzo-di-nonantola-il-ciclone-davanti-la-finestra/29415/29613

Simon Gruber Says

Iancar29 wrote: »

Tornado in Italy(aka eu's tornado alley) today

http://video.gelocal.it/gazzettadimodena/locale/campazzo-di-nonantola-il-ciclone-davanti-la-finestra/29415/29613

Hey look there's a tornado outside throwing debris at the building, better stand as close as possible to the window and record it :pac:

patneve2

Bit of sun out now, seems to be feeding the convection

Iancar29

Isolated thunderstorms possible for midlands , east and Northeast later this afternoon.

Conditions.

• Decent cape and LI values . Though hi-res not as widespread as GFS.
• Cold pool of roughly -20C at 500hpa giving rise to steep lapse rates. Timing of trough over us a bit late though to coincide with best surface heating.
• Moderate Speed shear but low directional shear present may not be enough to keep storms organized for long but nevertheless , a funnel or perhaps a squall line type system is possible . Any isolated cells being more more likely to have some lightning activity though.

So id expect to see a line of increased activity ( showers already ongoing) in the next few hours in the midlands and head Northeast.

ENjoy .

Simon Gruber Says

Nice line of showers approaching the east cost now. Surprised if there isn't a few sparks in it.

Darwin

Torrential downpour and some squally winds in my part of Laois but no sparks. Sun splitting the sky now!

Video

some thunder there in nothern ireland now, surprised it took so long.

Hal1

Martin McKenna's twitter page:

Martin McKenna @martinastro2005 · 14m
multiple rumbles of thunder from Maghera and observed flashes of lightning, can still hear thunder

Seems to be kicking off up there now.

vickers209

How we looking for tomorrow??

In for a breezy night according to estofex

A depression approaches Ireland from the west between midnight and 06Z. Another favorable setup for isolated CI evolves beneath the left exit of a powerful 45 m/s mid-layer jet during the passage of strong synoptic forcing. CI is possible along the eastward racing cold front. Strong wind gusts will be the main hazard for most of Ireland.

Oscar Bravo

Had a band of heavy showers pass about an hour ago (Castlebar) .no thunder and winds dropping off light once they passed.

Video

Looks like there was some in sligo though looking at the radar. when a shower comes along it brings with it intense winds tonight.