Convective/Thunderstorm Discussion : Spring/Summer 2020

Comhrá

The show seems to be over now for anywhere away from West Kerry and the Northwest. Bit of a bust for the rest of the country, tbh.

Discodog

Interesting that all the activity seems to be along the West Coast

watlantic

Further to my previous post, it is getting darker here (Westport) and distant thunder can be heard to the south:



While it still a lot brighter overhead with a few sunny spells, it seems we might get caught in the middle and just could get a mighty clash soon as it appears to be approaching from both N-NE and S-SW.
Looking N:

StringerBell

I assume given where the reports are coming from today i.e. the Wesht and the North that in the South East we will be missing out this time around?

Xenji

Thunder has returned again to Castlebar and has brought some much needed rain with it this time.

km79

Thunder lightening and very heavy shower in Ballinrobe

pauldry

Bucketed down rain in Screen and Beltra.
Thunder and Lightning too. Fork Lightning as well.
In Sligo town barely any rain

At an estimate I'd say

Screen 15mm
Ballisidare 3mma
Sligo 0.5mm

squarecircles

Comhra wrote: »

The show seems to be over now for anywhere away from West Kerry and the Northwest. Bit of a bust for the rest of the country, tbh.

.

Bit of a bust in the west also, the thunderstorms have formed into a shower train following the mountains, mostly uninhabited areas. Just rumbling away since early afternoon to the south, very irritating.

Storm 10

Distant rumble of Thunder Galway City

sweet_trip

A couple of questions for those who know the technical side of things better:



Are there specific corridors the conditions for thunder and lightening form in Ireland? Or can it form pretty much anywhere over irish or atlantic sea.



How do our mountains and rivers effect it?

watlantic

Curtains up, the show is starting in Westport with rain and a few flashes and rumbles. Hoping for an extended programme and a few encores...:D
Edit 15 mins later: That was only the soundcheck, but I hope they'll be on stage later. Got 2,8 mm, which won't do for the garden. Not giving up hope yet, even though the sun is making an appearance now.

highdef

Probably a good time to post this as it's busy here..... It's lightning, not lightening.

pad199207

highdef wrote: »

Probably a good time to post this as it's busy here..... It's lightning, not lightening.

Well when ya have people saying ‘Whesht’ for West what hope have we got

watlantic

highdef wrote: »

Probably a good time to post this as it's busy here..... It's lightning, not lightening.

...unless you're going to give birth. :rolleyes:

Gonzo

unfortunately with thunder forecasts for Ireland, they quite often die a death or just don't happen. I reckon last night was the main event and that was limited to mostly southern coastal regions. A few sparks today in western areas, however there is the still the possibility these thunderstorms will become more significant in the far west over the next few hours.

risk of more storms tomorrow but probably slightly less of a risk than today.

Discodog

The Old Radar can't cope with the lightning :pac:

http://archive.met.ie/latest/rainfall_radar.asp

squarecircles

Gonzo wrote: »

unfortunately with thunder forecasts for Ireland, they quite often die a death or just don't happen. I reckon last night was the main event and that was limited to mostly southern coastal regions. A few sparks today in western areas, however there is the still the possibility these thunderstorms will become more significant in the far west over the next few hours.

risk of more storms tomorrow but probably slightly less of a risk than today.

A few sparks,??? have you seen the radar and lightning returns!?

Trust you to pour cold water on it.

pad199207

Gonzo wrote: »

unfortunately with thunder forecasts for Ireland, they quite often die a death or just don't happen. I reckon last night was the main event and that was limited to mostly southern coastal regions. A few sparks today in western areas, however there is the still the possibility these thunderstorms will become more significant in the far west over the next few hours.

risk of more storms tomorrow but probably slightly less of a risk than today.

Yeah I agree about last night. Would take a good bit now to match those storms in the SE.

Really was a fantastic surprise.

redsteveireland

I think expectations were too high after the excitement of last night.

Comhrá

highdef wrote: »

Probably a good time to post this as it's busy here..... It's lightning, not lightening.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/09/08/the-most-misspelled-word-in-weather-lightning-its-not-lightening/

Gonzo

squarecircles wrote: »

A few sparks,??? have you seen the radar and lightning returns!?

Trust you to pour cold water on it.

not really pouring cold water on it just saying how it is. There was considerable potential today for a large part of the country and it just hasn't happened. Quite a few of us were expecting thunderstorms on the scale of last night's event through midland areas, many western and northern areas so considering the potential it has been dissapointing. I was never really expecting anything here in the east but was hoping that we would have had several major storms by now in several parts of the country, was looking forward to seeing more videos etc. It is rare for Ireland to have potential on the scale of today and it just hasn't really delivered yet. There is still time to get a decent storm going over the next few hours but if I was living in the midlands I would be very disappointed with today's efforts considering what could have been.

Humberto Salazar

Gonzo wrote: »

not really pouring cold water on it just saying how it is. There was considerable potential today for a large part of the country and it just hasn't happened. Quite a few of us were expecting thunderstorms on the scale of last night's event through midland areas, many western and northern areas so considering the potential it has been dissapointing. I was never really expecting anything here in the east but was hoping that we would have had several major storms by now in several parts of the country, was looking forward to seeing more videos etc. It is rare for Ireland to have potential on the scale of today and it just hasn't really delivered yet. There is still time to get a decent storm going over the next few hours but if I was living in the midlands I would be very disappointed with today's efforts considering what could have been.

The old weather knowledge about local thunderstorms, is that if they don't form by around three o clock, it's unlikely to happen. And in Offaly today while there was a few spits of rain, and greying skies briefly late afternoon, there was never going to be be thunderstorms. They are fickle things. I'd argue equal with a good snowfall is a good thunderstorm and hence why we all look forward to those events, and get disappointed when they bust.

PukkaStukka

Gerry Murphy on RTE1 said there is a possibility of sparks in North Leinster. Presuming the showers coming in off the Irish sea could erupt overland?

Oneiric 3

Today was pathetic, thankful for the earlier thunder and lightning show but a lousy 1.0mm here today and that'll probably be it for here until next weekend at least.

Gaoth Laidir

Today was a very active day for Ireland. Not sure why people are saying it wasn't. It was always going to be a mostly west and northwest event today and that's exactly how it turned out, but with the southwest also putting in a shift. The east was never on for thunderstorms and was never forecast to be. I'm still hoping that the Welsh terrain can do us a favour and kick something up for us here but I'm not holding my breath.

And I'm glad someone finally mentioned the spelling elephant in the room. Not that it will do any good as people will still continue on with the e regardless.

Gonzo

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Today was pathetic, thankful for the earlier thunder and lightning show but a lousy 1.0mm here today and that'll probably be it for here until next weekend at least.

I almost feel annoyed with how poor today has performed. Not expecting anything here in the east as usual but I've got relations and friends in the midlands, some of whom are farmers and I told them about today's potential for thunderstorms and the chance of some very heavy rainfall at times if caught under the storms. They are still looking at brown grass, no rain and no thunder and they are kinda wondering what I was going on about!

What annoys me the most is when the charts show similar potential over England and wales you can be guaranteed it delivers and often exceeds expectations. I was really hoping that for once we could have a day similar to that over a large part of Ireland and it just hasn't happened. Perhaps last night's storm in the South-east completely warped what I was expecting on a wider scale today, but it is hard to hide the disappointment. Of course there is still time for somewhere to get something special over the next few hours, but the main potential was this afternoon and early evening.

I reckon the decrease in temperatures across much of the south, east and midlands from the early afternoon has played a part of decreasing the storm risk. From a rainfall perspective the majority of the country is bone dry today. There is still potential for tomorrow but you have to wonder will we even have showers tomorrow in the first place.

km79

Oneiric 3 wrote: »

Today was pathetic, thankful for the earlier thunder and lightning show but a lousy 1.0mm here today and that'll probably be it for here until next weekend at least.

You live the wrong side of the border

igCorcaigh

https://twitter.com/Colleen76418830/status/1272199701090177027?s=19

SophieLockhart

10.4mm in just an hour at Finner, wow.

Meteorite58

Not too shabby I reckon and still going in the W. Never got going in the midlands or the S , Just goes to show the unpredictable nature of thunderstorm development. But I must say that we had one of the best storms that I can ever remember here in Kerry, ended up with 25mm , very hit and miss as is the nature of these events. Plenty more to come up to and including Weds and looks like the midlands, SE and E will feature more over the coming days.

I thought Met Eireanns Lightning Radar was good today, Blitzortung really under showed the storm that went over here, wouldn't be surprised if it missed the lightning discharges by about 40 or 50 to 1.

A lot of Positive Cloud to Ground strikes registered in the storm that went over here.






https://twitter.com/Meteorite58/status/1272168616184688642?s=20