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Why do cells develop over certain areas?

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  • 30-04-2014 2:50pm
    #1
    Video
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭


    Im watching the radar today and im seeing a lot of cells developing over the limerick area, why is this only happening here?


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    #2
    Jpmarn
    Registered Users Posts: 1,475 ✭✭✭Jpmarn


    Maybe it is the topography of the Limerick area. The Shannon Estuary is often a breeding ground for showers. It is also usually one of the warmer areas in Ireland especially over the summer months.


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    #3
    Iancar29
    Registered Users Posts: 5,068 ✭✭✭Iancar29


    Numerous things come into play..


    As Jpmarn says one isolated reason can be local terrain , hill and mountains can force air to rise , initiating convection.

    Wind convergence at 850hpa can again lead to air forcefully rising in a certain area.

    Like today , instability (LI index ) and Cape where best in the South and Midlands , this gave the air the momentum to rise at pace, leading to showers and the odd thundery one too.

    Theres also temp/ dewpoing spread which will be the fuel for any showers/ storms.


    Couldnt reccomend a page more about thunderstorm ingredients that this http://www.theweatherprediction.com/severe/ingredients/ .


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    #4
    Video
    Registered Users Posts: 635 ✭✭✭Video


    Thanks for yere explanations! handy link!


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    #5
    hatrickpatrick
    Registered Users Posts: 17,797 ✭✭✭✭hatrickpatrick


    I remember staying in a town in the south of France which was near a mountain. Every single day, a mushroom-shaped cloud would emerge from behind the mountain, it'd be tiny in the morning and would gradually build until mid-afternoon, at which point it would unleash an absolute onslaught of thunder and lightning that would continue until well into the night. Same pattern, se shape of cloud, more or less the same time every day.

    I came to assume that the shape of the mountain must have been directly causing this phenomenon, as it was literally the only constant during the time i was there (weather wise the bigger picture changed a bit, we had a week of wall to wall sunshine and another of constant cloudiness and rain, but this one thunderstorm appeared every day without fail),

    Bizarre phenomenon to observe and completely changed my views on weather. It was my first exposure to the idea that the weather isn't always as random and unpredictable as it is here at home in Ireland :D


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