Unfortunately this would not be a day where I would be available to chase, but that was not going to be a problem, as it seems that the most active thunderstorm in the country would find me.
After a busy day at the aerodrome (fantastic weather - everybody was flying!), a few of us headed to Stamford, Lincs, for some dinner. Leaving the resaurant, the days instability let loose as we walked through a torrential shower in which the rain drops bounced off the street, leaving torrents of water flowing through the gutters.
The GFS model had forecast a very healthy 1000-1400 J/Kg of CAPE and LIs down to -5C by 18z, with an upper trough destabilising a very warm and moist airmass moving up from France. Driving home showed some development well to my south, which would eventually organise into a multicell cluster. It was this storm that I watched for hours, lighting up the night sky with peaks of around 20 strikes/minute. Plenty of CG lightning close to my position ensured that I would see the best night light show I've seen in well over a year.
Lack of overall shear meant that no real severe potential existed with these storms, but it was great to see nonetheless.
The following days brought a continued spell of unstable weather with thunderstorms and even possible funnel clouds reported, but any storms that I saw just wouldn't match up to the night light extravanganza on June 5th, 2010...
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