Astronomy, Photography and Weather

Some great storms formed over NI on Wed, actually the best cells and storms I've seen at this time of year since I got into this subject. Had a fun chase day at Maghera, Toome, Lavy, Castledawson, Knockloughrim, Ballyronan etc. It was a rare day in that I could see cells everywhere, 3 or more at a time which made decision making difficult. It wasn't a photogenic success due to busy roads, powerlines, and telegraph poles and the finest sights I saw were never captured on camera for various reasons, however many of the cells I saw were storms which was really cool. Here's a few images from the day, and a possible small but distant funnel near the Sperrins.  The image account goes into more detail and explains what's going on in the images...

http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Storm%20Chasing%20-%20Sept%2022nd%202010.html

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I reported the suspect funnel to Dr. John Tyrrell from TORRO and he has just got back to me and believes it certainly could be a funnel given the synoptics at the time, his response is detailed so I will add it to the report for anyone interested in such matters.

Impressive set of images ,Martin and  I've just had a great read too.  I was wondering if the answer to a question I had was there but it wasn't. What's causing that 'arch' over the marina in photos 2,3 & 4..

I googled 'The Hills Have Eyes' Lol. I think you're safe out there lol. When I get in a position where people may be wondering what I'm doing I usually engage them in conversation and they end up quite interested ,I leave them with a couple of sites to look at for photos.and always  D H'olling's. I bet the man on the barn roof wondered why you wanted to photograph him - lol.

After you've chased in the US doing it here is so frustrating ,as you mention,because of all the hedges and trees but in the US they complain about the telephone lines,they're everywhere and sometimes if you want the shot you just have to include them,sometimes a line of poles can 'lead the eye' and that's a positive but most often it's the wires that intrude on the image. Anyway,you caught a funnel cloud too so a good day and you must keep that phone topped up lol.. just as you would your camera batteries, all part of the kit. Great having Paddy P to assist too.. My neighbour said he would relay info. for me - he can access sferics and Raintoday .I have an iPod so if there's a signal I can access the web but most times there in't a signal,it needs rolling out all over the country - fast .

Great shots Martin - congrats on the funnel! :D

Thanks very much for the feedback John and Mark, much appreciated  :)

John, thanks for reading the report, it's quite long isn't it lol, I get carried away sometimes. Good question about the arch over the Marina, I'm not certain of the mechanism behind it's shape, however I do know it's a gust front viewed side-on, moving R to L. Most people see the gust front from head-on and rarely see the arching affect, it's probably due to the effect from outflow when warmer air rises from the cold air and precip blowing down and forward like a mini cold front and scooping the warmer air up creating that large dome of the guster, where the whale's mouth would be inside, in this case it happened to be arched at the side more than usual, sometimes you see this and sometimes you don't.

Those hedges and poles/lines are a nightmare, they ruined much of the day photo-wise but at least I got a record anyway. The US seems to suffer from them too as you said, but I agree that on occasion they can really add to an image by leading your eye into a tornado.

Cheers on the funnel, John Tyrrell supports it so that's good enough for me, not a spectacular example of a funnel but still another added to the growing list and it made the day all the more sweater - looking forward to the next one  :)

Thanks, Martin.

Your accounts are always a good read - it's like being there alongside you  and your excitement and  frustrations  come across too. Great stuff.

Excellent write up Martin. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this as I have them all. Excellent news on another funnel in the bag, congrats on that mate

Roll on the next one...

Playing catchup here as ive been in sunny Spain for a week. ;D     A wonderfully detailed account and collection of images Martin. You certainly got around that day and had a proper chase and the rewards were good with a number of great convective images and a nice funnel to top it all off. I like the shots at the marina with the arching gust front, if id been around on this day i think i would have headed to the west of lough Neagh too. The last two shots are very interesting  showing the rapidly developing area, i bet you were gutted leaving that behind.

Thanks very much Danny and Paul for the comments. It was a good day of action, I was shocked to see lightning and hear thunder rumbling from my home when it got dark, turns out there where a cluster of storms to my W and SW which I had missed, by the time we got set-up the lightning stopped. The precip core from under that cell after dark was unbelievable!. Hope you some interesting weather in Spain Paul  :). Good to have you back.

Thanks Martin, our weather was excellent but pretty uninteresting, unbroken sunshine and temps of 28 degrees  8)  just one day of rain, i was hoping for a few evening storms out over the sea but nothing this time

Totally agree John & sorry for the late post Martin. I also enjoyed some of the descriptions on your website narrative - especially the 'feeling like a fox in a hen house' remark.  ;D

As always, some superbly dramatic land & cloudscapes to accompany the narrative (dare I say that even the pylons & telegraph poles looked good)!  ;D

Reckon the late storm must have forgotton to tune into the local weather forecast Martin!  ;D ;D

Seriously an excellent read once again & look forward to seeing many more as & when skies permit.

Thank you very much Andy for your kind words!, I always appreciate anyone who takes the time out to read my ramblings  :). If you have inspired me to keep at it in the hope of getting better images and capturing something truly special.

As it happens I was storm chasing on Tues and got on a massive storm near Coagh which was a treat, I also caught a small funnel cloud along with mammatus and double rainbow at the same time which really made my day. Will be doing a report on this one soon.  :), funnily enough the BBC had forecast 'scattered showers' this day and lightning ended up blowing a hole in a house (see other thread) lol.

excellent shots man. Everytime i seem to click there is one or two birds in my frame, i somtimes end up waiting a few mins to they go away lol

lol - I know what you mean, it seems the birds just wait until we touch the shutter then they fly through the frame for badness, they always end up looking like black dots or dust, I'm finding myself waiting for them to pass through first before taking the shot. Cheers man  :)