Thunderstorms

How Heavy is ‘Heavy’? Rain, sleet and snow

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Raining Cats and Dogs

Alright my weather mateys. Who’s sick of wet weather? If you didn’t put your hand up there you must be some kind of weirdo. It seems like it’s been raining for years non-stop now. The dry soils of last spring are now a distant memory. We often hear it said that it’s ‘raining cats and dogs’ and even ‘stair rods’, but is there an official way of telling just how ‘heavy’ heavy rain really is? Well, those that spend their day defining all things meteorological do indeed have the official definitions all scribbled on the back of an envelope and … [Read more]

Durham Weather August 2019 – The Wet Summer Continues

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Durham Weather August 2019 Rainfall Summary

After June and July gave us above average rainfall, August continued with the theme. There were brief spells of real warmth, but no real sustained anticyclonic spells. Thunderstorms were quite frequent in the disturbed weather patterns which came mainly from the Atlantic. We were on the North side of the Jet Stream for long periods. The opening week was reasonable, with temps in the low 20s, but things quickly deteriorated to give 51.7mm of rain over the 9th-12th period. Temperatures dropped too and 20 degC wasn’t breached at all between the 10th and 20th, with rain every day. In fact August … [Read more]

July 2019 – A real mixture of everything meteorological

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The weather of Durham in July 2019 was a real mixture. The first week was very pleasant and dry, with temperatures hovering around the 20-22 degC mark. It got a little warmer toward the middle of the month, as we’d expect, but also slightly more unsettled. A few days peaked at over 25 degC, namely 10th, 11th and 16th. Nothing exceptional though, just typical July weather. What came next was extraordinary. Air began to arrive from North Africa. Europe sweltered and several records were broken. In the UK, temperatures soared. The short heatwave of July 22nd-26th was one of the … [Read more]

Funnel Cloud seen over North East England – 28th May 2019

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Funnel cloud seen over north east england 28th may 2019

  The report above appeared in the Northern Echo newspaper on 29th May 2019. The axis of funnel clouds may be vertical, inclined (as seen here), or sometimes long and sinuous.  In the UK it is usually tens of metres in diamater (not huge). It is much rarer for funnel clouds to touch the ground and that is when they become tornadoes, but it does happen occasionally. Most UK tornado reports come from The Midlands, Central, Southern and South East England and East Anglia. Our very own Tornado Alley! If you see a funnel cloud or suspected tornado, you should … [Read more]

Electrical Storms in Northern England – 11th September 2000

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Amazing Storms Cause Havoc Here is what I wrote in my weather diary on the night: There have been quite severe electrical storms in the North East of England tonight with torrential rain at times. In Ferryhill, the storms started at about 2030 GMT after the weather became very muggy and humid at the end of the afternoon. Late afternoon Dew Point was 19 degC with RH at 92 %. Between 2100 GMT and 2315 GMT lightning flickered almost constantly in all quadrants of the sky, mainly cloud-cloud at first but then some hefty cloud-ground discharges later. I rang a friend of mine on his mobile … [Read more]