Portrush Multicell Thunderstorm - Aug 9th

[martinastro]

Here's a video clip of the huge multicell I watched over the Atlantic Ocean from a beach at Portrush on Aug 9th. This cell was so large that I could actually see it from Maghera and watched in amazement how it got larger as I neared the north coast. Gust front was quite nasty on it, and I managed to catch a c-g bolt over the Sea, although there where a good few more on the other side which I missed. The precip core had red and white radar echoes at the time, it also had a green colour which the vid doesn't show well.

[paulster78]

That was great to watch, especially as i had been watching it on radar and wondering what it looked like. Impressive structure and gust front and the height of the cell was unreal as you were driving towards it. Nice c-g captures too!  Well done


Heres a grab of it at 16:05

[JohnC]

Excellent footage and capturing the Cg's too.I even enjoyed the car journey. Well done,Martin.

[martinastro]

Thanks very much for the comments Paul and John, I'm delighted to see the high res radar grab of that cell, the red and white echoes speak for themselves, thanks very much for posting this, it's great to reflect back on the finer details. I must get a look at the sat 24 images to see if I can spot it on there. Cheers guys.

[Big Dipper]

Very impressive Martin - especially the lightening captures from the beach & the increasingly dramatic sounding gusts towards the end.

[martinastro]

Thanks very much Andy, it was a lovely sight looming over the Ocean as I approached Portrush. I saw 5 c-gs from it in total. Will post still images later when I get them sorted. Cheers 

[martinastro]

Here's a link to the image report from this day, loads of images on there...

http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Portrush%20Multicell%20Storm%20-%20Aug%209th%202010.html

Below are a few random snaps, starting with chasing a huge storm over the Ocean, intercepting it, then going after more convection/showers then ending the day with high contrast cells over Portballintrae...

[JohnC]

Wonderful account and photos,Martin.I'll send the link( the full account ) to Brian,he'll enjoy this and it will give him a different perspective  by seeing what chasing is  over this side. No oceans for him in the Mid West lol. All those shots of the car journey with the cell as a backdrop really made a difference,rather than what most would do and just take the shot  when they arrive, made me feel I was in the car  too lol. The coast line  also has  very attractive scenery.. I'll be looking at this again later.

[martinastro]

John, thanks very much for going over the account, I'm delighted you liked the images and glad you mentioned the shots through the window as we got closer to the distant storm, I was trying to decide to include them or not but glad I now have, they tell the story so much better, I don't think anyone can appreciate the size of the cell without those early images from the road, I was amazed to see it so clearly from Maghera even though it was over the coast, thanks for passing them on to Brian, it would indeed be more unusual with the Ocean nearby. I was actually in the same place today, it was like a tourist resort, not a cloud in the sky with very warm temps, I'm just back and feel sick from mild sun stroke - what a remarkable day, the scenery there is outstanding for a landscape photographer, however me being a sky events man I only took a few snaps of the Sea and boats lol, had there been storms today I would have another 300 images home with me. I must fix those spelling mistakes in the report now...cheers 

[markt]

Great reports and photos all round!

[Big Dipper]

As usual I saved reading your report til the end Martin so I could just sit back & enjoy it at my leisure.

Anyway, as expected, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read with some spectacular images. Glad you managed to find a driver so that you could concentrate on more important matters - i.e. storm chasing!  I was relieved to learn that the video camera survived the fall despite having landed on concrete!

Some really 'eye-popping' pictures inbetween the excellent narrative. You have some really fantastic scenery over there & I particularly loved the lighting effects in many of the shots where the clouds were almost jet black looking! I can't imagine how those scenes must have looked/sounded 'in the flesh', so to speak.

Anyway thanks for sharing the report with us all (mental note to myself: - don't forget to organise a forum collection later today for Martin's latest petrol bill)!! 

[martinastro]

Thanks very much for the feedback Mark and Andy 

Andy, cheers for taking the time out to read and digest the report, you are correct about the clouds looking different in the flesh, in reality they looked far more impressive than the camera shows, and in some cases more darker, such as the gust front over the sea, not to mention the green colour to the precip core under that gust front so similar to US supercells which comes out as a subtle colour in the images. It's roughly 30 miles there and back plus all the other petrol spent moving along the coast back and fourth and waiting in traffic cues and going through car parks trying to get a space. Not much money compared to the US chasers (who would laugh at such small expenses) however it all adds up, fortunately the time, money, and fuel paid off this time, they where the best storms in the country that day as Paul's radar image shows. The only thing missing was a funnel or waterspout, sooner or later I intend to catch a fantastic example, either over Lough Neagh or the Atlantic, I will do my best anyway.

It's such a relief having someone else drive, I could have drove myself however I delibrately decided to be a passenger so I could take images/video through the window while on the move, some of the coolest scenes associated with storms happen while on the road, and more often than not you can't get pulled over or use the camera and the scene gets missed, this would be a hard blow to take if it was a funnel or tornado. I will be chasing on my own again in the near future so I will need to be as stratgeic as possible about positioning so I don't miss out on anything. This week and the weekend ahead have storm potential for both Ireland and UK so I look forward to another go if the charts don't change before then. Thanks again Andy, your posts are always a great read. 

[Big Dipper]

Yes, I read your remarks about the benefits of having company when you go storm chasing Martin - especially if they volunteer to drive.

Two suggestions:-

1. With his photography job, perhaps Conor could ask his boss to be assigned to outdoor projects which could involve an element of storm chasing.

2. Show your mother your appreciation of her driving skills (in the hope that she may volunteer to do so a little more often) by sharing with her this picture of a 'women only' car park! 

(Though perhaps leave the latter suggestion until you're safely back home after your next expedition out with her)!!

[rjgjr]

Thanks for the amazing photos Martin, sounds like quite a chase. Those coastal squalls look very similar to our winter Pacific storms that roll in. Thanks.

[martinastro]

ROFL , Andy I saw your post late last night and laughed non stop when I studied that image - brilliant lol 

Richard, cheers for the comment, it's amazing how similar our weather, or rather convection look like from such a vast distance apart, coastal views are amazing, I would love to hit the coast again during the Autumn and Winter when the storms get really nasty there, I'm still after my dream image of a photogenic waterspout - some day