Astronomy, Photography and Weather

Feeling a little convection starved at the moment so I thought I would post a few images taken last August showing an approaching thunderstorm over the Sperrins before hitting Maghera. The impressive part of this storm was the gust front sporting a good shelf with scud 'teeth' which looked very menacing as it crept closer. The storm produced torrential rain and flooding (white & red radar returns) and c-gs. It was a great scene at the time. Slieve Gallion Mountain is to the L. The shelf covered much of the skyline and was incredibly dark underneath. Roll on Spring and Summer!

(http://i38.tinypic.com/11ag0vr.jpg)

(http://i37.tinypic.com/120h0rl.jpg)

(http://i37.tinypic.com/243j88w.jpg)

(http://i35.tinypic.com/1zly9aa.jpg)

(http://i36.tinypic.com/mt9y04.jpg)

(http://i35.tinypic.com/f4mc1u.jpg)

(http://i35.tinypic.com/sgs6x4.jpg)

(http://i35.tinypic.com/wlac7d.jpg)

Sorry about all the images.

These are Perfect shots Martin! looks like Hollingshead type stuff! especailly the first, I like the wide angle so you can see the structure. A real nice looking shelf with some low clouds kickin' up dirt. Nice downdraft there too! Thanks for sharing, real neat series.

Tyler

Thanks very much Tyler!, I'm glad you liked those. I have only been into photographing storms since the Summer of 2007 so I'm still learning from the more experienced imagers and chasers like yourself, and of course the infamous Mike H who is inspiring to everyone interested in this sort of thing. This was the best and 'meanest' shelf I have seen from N. Ireland since I began. I have an account on my site from this day but when I looked at it recently I was annoyed with myself for only including a small selection of images from that day. I had forgotten there was so many in my file. I used a 58mm wide angle conversion lens attached to my standard 28mm wide for those shots. The field of view is about 120 degrees or more so it was a pretty big structure. John McConnell got  a very interesting image of this same shelf much later when it stopped producing lightning. I have the image in my collection and will post it up later (I'm sure John won't mind). I would love your opinion in it because of the strange structure on it's leading edge which I cannot ID. Cheers.

Hi Tyler, here are John's images of the same shelf taken later. Any ideas what that big cloud obscuration is on the leading edge of the now tortured looking shelf?

(http://i33.tinypic.com/28a3huh.jpg)

(http://i35.tinypic.com/ilvh42.jpg)

(http://i35.tinypic.com/24mx6kg.jpg)

I have just updated the image account from this day on the site. I have added 7 new images in total. Here's a link.

http://www.nightskyhunter.com/Sperrin%20Shelf%20Cloud%20-%20August%2011th%202008.html

Thanks for the inspiration Tyler!

Those are superb shots Martin. Very dramatic looking, indeed.

Thanks very much Andy!

John (9929) informed me last night that this shelf was not too different to the one he seen from Maghaberry on Sept 28th 2005 which caused a damaging tornado. Only on that occasion the shelf was black as night.

not sure Martin, I have seen a feature very similar and wondered the same thing. I know that wall clouds can for on the front side of shlef clouds, if fact this summer we had a tornado come through omaha, just 2 miles from my house at 2 in the morning (and I was out shooting lightning!)

Did John mention any rotation?

Thanks Tyler. Yes, I heard funnels and tornadoes can form on the leading edge of the shelf which is interesting. John didn't see any rotation (jump in John any time) so maybe it was just cumulus lifted by the outflow. Strange looking feature anyway.

All of those shots are great, Martin. The last one in the first post is (as Tyler said) like Hollingshead type stuff. And the images John's post look scary to me :o