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Some time after this Conor McDonald and his girlfriend Christina arrived and together we watched for further action. The sky was very strange looking at that stage and the convection looked elevated. Some distant rumbles of thunder echoed through the atmosphere which seemed to be coming from our W or NW. The last rumble was particularly impressive and was of very long duration which was quite exciting. We couldn't see the flashes though. I read that thunder can only be heard if the lightning is less than 10 miles distant from the observer so it must not have been far away. I found out later that lightning was seen near Slaughtneill only a few miles out the road to our NW. That line of tall trees hid the flashes from us. The rain was very constant and after the thunder vanished I had the feeling everything had become outflow dominant. I was sure the cool rain and air was chocking to death any other storms moving in. It would probably just rain for now on.
Wanting to make the most of it, the three of us walked out to a country location outside Maghera which I have had my eye on for some time. From here we had a great view through much of the compass points overlooking green fields. It was also quiet from man-made noise so distant thunder could be more easily detected.
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Huge updraughts exploding up at astonishing speed with shear. Looking W. Line moving L to R.
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The rain stopped and then after a wait under a boring sky very impressive towering cumulus began to rapidly sprout up out of nowhere. This was when the CAPE values were rising. The towers formed along several N-S convergence zones, and I have to say, we were amazed at how fast they were growing in vertical height and expanding in azimuth. They had thick chunky mushroom tops with what seemed like multiple updraughts exploding out at angles from the main updraught. To see how fast they formed we would look at a small developing tower then turn our backs to it and look back again a few min's later. When we did, the small towers had exploded into a mountain!. This is looking to the N, towering cu moving L to R. That small derelict building is the very reason I chose this location. It provided an excellent means of shelter. It came in handy for a photo too. 17.03 BST.
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Dark updraught base under one of these cu towers. The top of this cloud is far above out of frame. The scud was very impressive, we could see it moving rapidly from tree top height into the base of the cloud. I was watching for small funnels again. 17.10 BST.
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There's Conor sitting on the edge of the derelict building watching the convection. 17.17 BST.
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A vertical image of the same scene which I rather like.
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Looking N at the other side of the line. That's 'Blue Bell Forest' to the L. 17.19 BST.
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17.38 BST. After a long wait we were going to call it a day and head home as the sky was grey with nothing interesting to shoot. However my instincts alerted me to the E sky. Visibility was poor here but the dark eerie blue colour of the sky on the horizon looked very threatening and I felt there could be distant storms in that direction. Eventually the mid level cloud began to break and we could see some serious convection embedded within. This is looking E at an enormous cumulonimbus with giant wispy anvil. It extended from the NE to SE sectors and reached from, close to ground level, and up to the zenith. Look how low the base is behind those cumulus clouds. This must have been a spent storm and a good candidate for a funnel/tornado drop. f the anvil. Moving R to L. You can clearly see the bright white anvil sweeping up to the top of, and out of, the frame. There's small mammatus at the side and centre of the anvil, can you see it?. I say small but this anvil was an incredible height above ground so they were probably big.
The sky eventually cleared but some cells where still visible and quite big in the post frontal air mass. During the late evening before sunset I went to Ballyronan Marina overlooking Lough Neagh to take our dog for a walk. During the drive over I seen some incredible evil looking cells gleaming solid white with great mammatus but I couldn't take a decent shot from inside the moving car. I couldn't stop either so by the time I got to the Lough shore the cells had decayed a great deal however they were still photogenic. It was a lovely evening here. It was dead calm and mild. The view over the Lough with the yachts and ducks was so peaceful. Some very strange currents in the water though which looked dangerous. Ballyronan is located at the NW section of the lough. A successful day with heavy showers, nice convective structures and thunder. The forecast for the following day was looking much more interesting. Time to recharge the batteries for day two.
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Martin McKenna