Stormy Weather II

[DracoM]

Sneaky but 'no mucking about' NE wind/ breeze up here - nasty surprise. Temp 5C

[Serial_Apologist]

Sneaky but 'no mucking about' NE wind/ breeze up here - nasty surprise. Temp 5C

No sign as yet of the rain-bearing system that is due to arrive midway through this afternoon and give us rain in the South until after nightfall: bright sunshine, broken clouds, 12C. Apparently there was a brilliant display of the Northern Lights last night - anyone see it?

[Serial_Apologist]

No sign as yet of the rain-bearing system that is due to arrive midway through this afternoon and give us rain in the South until after nightfall: bright sunshine, broken clouds, 12C. Apparently there was a brilliant display of the Northern Lights last night - anyone see it?

That was 2 hours ago. Now we have a truly dramatic dark sky advancing from the west and about to descend: a so-called triple-point convergence cell, which can occur at an occlusion point, where a cold front catches up with a warm front on a developing low, forcing additional upthrust. I recall such an event in August in the early 1990s when I was living in Bristol. There was not a great deal of thunder, though what there was was exceptionally loud and ground-shaking - I have a cassette I made by siting the cassette recorder adjacent to my open kitchen window - the wind was approaching from the opposite side of the house - and the exceptional volume of two thunder bolts momentarily obliterated all other sounds. Most of the sound however came from the torrential rain, which continued falling for another three hours after the thunder died out, resulting in 4 1/2 inches of rainfall in all, and road flooding in parts of the city. This particular storm produced several strikes in the vicinity of the M25/A4 junction in the last hour, but now would appear from the watery, now less clearly defined cloud base to be de-energising, much as happened two days ago; and the rain is just of moderate intensity right now. We'll need to see if this re-develops or is now spreading out into a larger, less concentrated area of rain.

[DracoM]

Rain up here now.

[oddoneout]

Mostly dry today, but perishing cold - and raw with it thanks to the dampness in a vigorous NW later N wind. Tomorrow is set to be winter woollies thanks to even more wind chill. This isn't doing the fruit set any good - the combination of strong wind and cold is not conducive to pollinator activity. The goosegogs should be OK, as they are self pollinated, and the currants might do OK with the wind and some crawling insect activity, but the neighbour's pear tree which should be thrumming with bees is quiet and the blossom is getting ripped off, rather than just petals falling as the flowers go over.

[groovydavidii]

Damn! Today’s (South Hants), prolonged thunder/lightning, heavy hailstones storm obliterated hardening-off plants on patio, fortunately it’s still early days for re-sowing.

[Serial_Apologist]

Damn! Today’s (South Hants), prolonged thunder/lightning, heavy hailstones storm obliterated hardening-off plants on patio, fortunately it’s still early days for re-sowing.

That would be the storm we eventually got, in a weakened form, but the rain associated did not peter out until a short while ago here. Must have had a good inch, I would say.

[DracoM]

Today, 25th April, cloudless up here!!!
BUT...there was frost overnight.

[Petrushka]

Very sunny here this morning but surprisingly chilly with overnight temperatures hovering around freezing. If the forecast is correct the temperature should just about get into double figures later in the day. We're just a week away from May but there has been very little evidence to suggest that spring has even started yet.

[Old Grumpy]

Very sunny here this morning but surprisingly chilly with overnight temperatures hovering around freezing. If the forecast is correct the temperature should just about get into double figures later in the day. We're just a week away from May but there has been very little evidence to suggest that spring has even started yet.

Well it's Spring in Redditch - according to Joseph K, at least!

[Serial_Apologist]

Very sunny here this morning but surprisingly chilly with overnight temperatures hovering around freezing. If the forecast is correct the temperature should just about get into double figures later in the day. We're just a week away from May but there has been very little evidence to suggest that spring has even started yet.

There would have been a ground frost here last night, given that the air temperature fell to + 1C. 12 noon it had reached 9C, so I am estimating a max of 12C for the day. Broken flattened out cumulus under the high pressure inversion covering 2/3 of the sky; light NNW wind

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, we still have this problem of the strong high pressure belt persisting to our north for the forseeable future, as long as the Atlantic jet is seasonally well to the south of where it would normally have been in previous times, so while it should now be drier everywhere than for some time now, with the odd warm day (such as this coming weekend), we remain stuck with this predominance of easterly and north-easterly winds. It's too early to say, but dare one hope we will escape last year's very high temperatures?

[Petrushka]

...but dare one hope we will escape last year's very high temperatures?

No-o-o-o-o! I absolutely loved it when we had those 35+ degrees days last year and felt perfectly comfortable in it. Looking forward to more of it.

What I'm not perfectly comfortable in is what we have now. It feels cold here with a temperature of 12 degrees, something we often get at Christmastime. There's also total cloud cover though the wind is very light to non-existent. Heating still on here.

[DracoM]

Steady thin rain interrupted by sharp, heavy stuff. Temp 5C. Horizon to horizon thick grey cloud.
Jolly Bank Holiday w/end? HUH!As it...........

[oddoneout]

Steady thin rain interrupted by sharp, heavy stuff. Temp 5C. Horizon to horizon thick grey cloud.
Jolly Bank Holiday w/end? HUH!As it...........

It was pleasantly warm today, if rather dull with the sun behind cloud much of the time. The forecast is not good for tomorrow though - payback for a lovely Saturday and acceptable Sunday - with the threat of thunderstorms pm.