Convective/Thunderstorm Discussion : Spring/Summer 2020

igCorcaigh

DOCARCH wrote: »

Lots of sferics off the S and SE coast atm.

Yup. Will bypass Cork and go up the SE?

igCorcaigh

Has there been any reports of tornadoes or funnel clouds over the last 24 hours?

highdef

average_runner wrote: »

A good few lightening flashes and thunder in dungarvan

Any lightning to be seen? I'd expect you to be able to see lightning if you can hear thunder? Any idea what is causing the lightening that you mentioned? Maybe some power lines have come down and there are short circuits causing the lightening incidents that you mentioned. Stay safe and keep away from fallen power lines!

Danno

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Has there been any reports of tornadoes or funnel clouds over the last 24 hours?

The only few brief times I was outdoors today the sky certainly looked like they could form - particularly this morning as the thunderstorms moved over.

Big area of precip with the thunderstorms moving in from the south now. Windy here also, so they'll scoot through rather briskly.

darragh o meara

Few flashes of lightning on Clonmel/Waterford border towards Dungarvan. Haven’t heard any thunder yet but the cameras outside are picking up the lightning.

Not seeing much on lightning maps either.

average_runner

highdef wrote: »

Any lightning to be seen? I'd expect you to be able to see lightning if you can hear thunder? Any idea what is causing the lightening that you mentioned? Maybe some power lines have come down and there are short circuits causing the lightening incidents that you mentioned. Stay safe and keep away from fallen power lines!

Ok, joke was wasted on me for 5 mins

average_runner

darragh o meara wrote: »

Few flashes of lightning on Clonmel/Waterford border. Haven’t heard any thunder yet but the cameras outside are picking up the lightning.

Saw another flash out towards that way, no thunder after it

hatrickpatrick

Question for those who know about this: Is there a reason we don't generally tend to get the kind of rotating mesocyclone thunderstorms they get in the US? You often see photographs of thunder clouds over there which are almost perfectly cylindrical and they visibly rotate as one watches them, but here thunder and lightning often seem to come from clouds which don't look particularly different to ordinary rain clouds except for being darker. We don't seem to get mesocyclones here at all, and yet we can still get extremely powerful thunderstorms on occasion (thinking back to that one night near the start of the summer where there was forked lightning all over the sky in Dun Laoghaire for a good two or three hours at around 4AM!)

Danno

Live webcam from Johnstown in Kilkenny facing SE.

Might see a few sparks from there:

igCorcaigh

They seem to be up to the Irish sea.

igCorcaigh

I was hoping for some decent thunderstorms!
Ah well, can't be greedy eh?

Gaoth Laidir

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Question for those who know about this: Is there a reason we don't generally tend to get the kind of rotating mesocyclone thunderstorms they get in the US? You often see photographs of thunder clouds over there which are almost perfectly cylindrical and they visibly rotate as one watches them, but here thunder and lightning often seem to come from clouds which don't look particularly different to ordinary rain clouds except for being darker. We don't seem to get mesocyclones here at all, and yet we can still get extremely powerful thunderstorms on occasion (thinking back to that one night near the start of the summer where there was forked lightning all over the sky in Dun Laoghaire for a good two or three hours at around 4AM!)

It's to do with the shape of the CAPE area on the sounding (the difference between how warmer a rising parcel is than its environment) and windshear.

Because we don't get very warm and humid low levels we tend to get very narrow CAPE profiles (the parcel trajectory (blue) is only slightly warmer than the temperature curve on a Skew-T, tracing out a very thin CAPE area, first sounding below). This allows dry air to be entrained from the environment, reducing buoyancy and updraft speeds.

In the case of a mesocyclone the CAPE is much thicker, meaning the parcel trajectory is much warmer than the temperature curve, tracing out a much squarer CAPE area (2nd sounding). Limited dry air-entrainment means updraft speeds are much higher, and if wind is changing direction with height (direcitonal shear) it will be easier for the updraft to take on rotation.

sweet_trip

Very active out there in the Celtic/Irish Sea

Hannibal_Smith

Sitting near Kilmore Quay watching the sky light up way out in St George's Channel. Very impressive.

Oscar Bravo

Good few strikes north of Mallow now

igCorcaigh

igCorcaigh wrote: »

They seem to be up to the Irish sea.

All wasted over water.

igCorcaigh

Will that activity from the Biscay hit the south coast at all?

igCorcaigh

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Will that activity from the Biscay hit the south coast at all?

Theres lightening at the moment, no thunder.

pad199207

Lightning visible here in Naas to the south

adam240610

Lightning off coast of Greystones, very feint thunder but bright enough flash through the window

Danno

Seen a few flashes to my SE from here in south Laois. Had the lightning maps detector on the mobile and it was only picking up some of them.

DOCARCH

Distant lightning to me SE in Dublin 16.

DOCARCH

Have seen 5 flashes of distant lightning to my SE in the last couple of minutes in Dublin 16. Must be IC lightning (not showing on detectors) in that shower off the Wicklow coast?

highdef

pad199207 wrote: »

Lightning visible here in Naas to the south

Ditto on the Kildare/Meath border

highdef

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Theres lightening at the moment, no thunder.

Depending on the specifics for the cause of the lightening that you are seeing, thunder is not normally something that accompanies it.

Back to the weather, I can see distant flashes of lightning to my SSE although it's way way beyond the distance where thunder would be audible to me.

Ballylad

Hearing thunder near tullow

Ballylad

Nice flash of lightning, near enough

Danno

Seen a big cloud->cloud fork to my SE, impressive!

chris2007

seems like dublin may get thunder and lightning in a few hours

Fresh air helps!

Rain is unbelievable with thunder and lightning here in Wicklow. Very loud!