Early 2011 Storm clouds

[paulster78]

Most of the country was treated to a taste of spring yesterday (14th Jan) with the first daytime convection of 2011. I had been keeping an eye on developments via radar and sat updates and by late morning an interesting looking cell was approaching my location from the SW. I hopped in the car and drove to a good location with great views across the countryside. It felt good to get out shooting convection so early in the year.

First two images showing a decent anvil away in the distance and then a close-up of the left side of the anvil with an updraft tower on another cell.






The skies then got very dark as the cell i had been watching on radar approached. No real structure but dark clouds and and a heavy precipitation core and gusty winds.

[markt]

Nice pictures Paul

[rjgjr]

Great images Paul, the first one really shows how large an area the cell covers.

[martinastro]

Great to see convective images from so soon into 2011. Looks like you had a good chase Paul, can't believe I'm saying that in Jan  . The cell in the first one looks like a real biggie and the dark core in four looks nasty, you were well exposed up there on the mountain, I bet those wind gusts were far from nice!. Like the road shots leading to the precip core. Looking forward to your next outing Paul.

[Anton]

Great images and account of the days chase Paul, love the last image illustrates the days chase With the car and road ahead.

Thanks

[JohnC]

Good to see skies like this again..Things are starting to look up .

[paulster78]

Thanks everyone for the comments, looking quiet for the rest of the week anyway.