[Meteorite58]

Thanks to JCX BXC for pointing out need to start a Spring / Summer thread.

A few clatters of Thunder here near Tralee this evening and some big showers of hail .

A lot of activity today .

[Storm 10]

I had just posted about Thunder and Lightning in Galway before you changed

[Xenji]

Some rumbles around Castlebar currently.

[Meteorite58]

Just looking through the charts and taking a guess that there could be some sporadic lightning later along the Cork coast , maybe somewhere around 23.00 to 24.00. Not too sure but a low chance of a few moving inland heading Northwards in the early hours also. Also along the S, SE and E coasts could get some sporadic lightning but a low chance.

[Donegal Storm]

If there's nothing for the next two months it'll be a full two years since I last heard a rumble of thunder

Wonder are there any stats anywhere on sferics? In my mind at least its been an extremely un-thundery couple of years nationwide (barring that one night last May) with rarely more than a few sporadic strikes at best and very few of those days with big convective showers and great cloudscapes

[Rikand]

Originally Posted by Donegal Storm

If there's nothing for the next two months it'll be a full two years since I last heard a rumble of thunder

Wonder are there any stats anywhere on sferics? In my mind at least its been an extremely un-thundery couple of years nationwide (barring that one night last May) with rarely more than a few sporadic strikes at best and very few of those days with big convective showers and great cloudscapes

Last year maybe with how wonderful the summer was

Tough for Donegal though. In my previous job, I did a lot of work in "Thunderstorm Alley". Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Meath. All summer long the last couple of years you'd have great opportunities for storms nearly every day. Especially around Naas.

Convection seems to build east of limerick city, track east of the slieve blooms and then explode

[highdef]

Originally Posted by Rikand

Last year maybe with how wonderful the summer was

Tough for Donegal though. In my previous job, I did a lot of work in "Thunderstorm Alley". Carlow, Kildare, Laois, Meath. All summer long the last couple of years you'd have great opportunities for storms nearly every day. Especially around Naas.

Convection seems to build east of limerick city, track east of the slieve blooms and then explode

Maybe someday I will get a better video than the one below, taken in 2012, showing a (confirmed) weak tornado touching down near home, on the Kildare/Meath border, in "Thunderstorm Alley" - I'd noticed very strange cloud movements and lowerings close to home on my drive home from work so I grabbed the video camera and tripod and drove to the top of the hill.

Was so lucky to capture the complete life cycle of the tornado. As weak as it was, I'm not sure if there any other decent quality videos of the full life cycle of a tornado in Ireland. The quality is actually quite poor on Youtube. I also had a problem with the camera at the time and could not capture the video digitally onto the computer.

Some of the video is sped up but it's fairly obvious where those parts are!

[Donegal Storm]

I lived in Kildare all of last year and still didn't hear a single rumble!

In Donegal we usually need an unstable southerly for thunderstorms in the summer which are rare at the best of times but in a typical autumn and winter we'd get at least 2-3 days with thundery hail showers off the Atlantic. Not a thing this year..

[Meteorite58]

Great Video highdef , would love to capture a touchdown some day, saw a few funnels but never one on the ground. Looks like I will have to go chasing in Ireland's Tornado alley some time ! Get some good reports and pictures from there for sure , a lot of the storms seem to mature up in that area especially after the heat of the day.

[Birdnuts]

Originally Posted by Donegal Storm

I lived in Kildare all of last year and still didn't hear a single rumble!

In Donegal we usually need an unstable southerly for thunderstorms in the summer which are rare at the best of times but in a typical autumn and winter we'd get at least 2-3 days with thundery hail showers off the Atlantic. Not a thing this year..

My parents live near Kill Village and on a date last July they had one of the most violent Thunderstorms for many a year - heavy hail, gusty winds, multiple lightning strikes etc., lasted nearly 2 hours,actually did a fair bit of damage locally to spring crops.

[pad199207]

Originally Posted by Birdnuts

My parents live near Kill Village and on a date last July they had one of the most violent Thunderstorms for many a year - heavy hail, gusty winds, multiple lightning strikes etc., lasted nearly 2 hours,actually did a fair bit of damage locally to spring crops.

I think that particular storm hit in August. This was the hail that fell from it

[Donegal Storm]

Easy knowing I moved back to Donegal at the end of July

Was also up visiting the folks the time of the big storms in May last year!

[Oneiric 3]

Ireland's 'thunderstorm alley'

[Oscar Bravo]

Was just outside there(Castlebar) to bin and noticed the sky light up towards the northwest. Nice thunderstorm off the coast near Belmullet

[sunbeam]

I can hear it approaching here in Achill now.