Message #9669

[martinastro]

...I hope you get it clear tonight Brian.

I have just seen the most incredible sight this evening which has thrilled me beyond words as a person who wants to see good storm structure. I noticed strong cells and sferics on the radar moving up towards Lough Neagh. Since this is a spot we visit on a semi regular basis, my Mum and I took our dog up to visit the Lough for a walk, I was thinking there may have been a chance of catching a storm. We did, the storm had the most stunning shelf cloud I have ever seen, and always wanted to see, like something from the US. Some may argue this point, but it was the best shelf I have ever seen in comparison to other images and video from the UK. It was absolutely stunning!!!. It look up the entire skyline with solid double-stacked rolls reaching an incredible height with a bright horizontal division splitting it into two sections. All along the mid section was linear formations including lenticular type waves with variours colours among the white structure. At bottom was a thick lip running its entire length like a window sill. Below was a dense GREEN curtain of precip from which lightning flickered away from within, when this happened the precip lit up bright green. The lightning was impressive, mainly pink in colour with i-c and c-g bolts, at least three at a single time with angry thunder. The entire structure was both awesome and frightening as it approached very low to the ground with a nice curved feature on one side. It produced a great storm and torrential rain which flooded some of the road sides in the Ballyronan area. This was a sight I have always wanted to see, I never knew such an fabulous shelf cloud be seen in this country. At first, gettting images and video was a nightmare due to trees and hedges but we pulled over at a lay by and let it pass over us as in dramatic fashion. Have some images and video but they don't do it justice. The only thing missing was a tornado!. What an end to the day - that's 6 storms over the weekend. 2009 has been a great season so far!