[Lightning Hunter]

Well, another eventful afternoon after a slow start. A train of heavy showers developed along, presumably, a convergence line in the early evening, just to my north.

I headed to the forest to get a better view and the cell to the far West looked very interesting, with a clear inflow area (rain-free) and a base so low it was hidden behind the trees:



I assumed it must be a shelf cloud, but it remained stationary for a good 20-30 minutes, with any precipitation way to the north. I moved to get a better view, about 1 mile west, beyond the trees:



There was plenty of scud rising into the base at a very fast rate - forming at treetop level:



Wide view of the storm - note precipitation to the far right, where it remained:



The rain-free area started to move directly towards my location. There was the odd hailstone falling, but no rain:



Suddely, on it's southern edge, a lowering:



At this time, rotation was becoming very apparant in several places, including right above my location! I started the car engine as a precaution, as I've never seen such violent motion over such a wide area! The first brief spin-up:



Then, in the area to my SSW a clear notch developed within seconds - it was like watching in fast-forward. Roation was rapid now in this whole area:



A clear funnel now:





A wider view, showing notch (downdraft?):



It turned into a thin rope, getting very close to the ground it seems (feel free to play with images for contrast etc):





It finally roped out after about 3-4 minutes:



But it soon re-formed into a nice wedge shape as the sunlight hit it. A fantastic sight:





It then decayed, before one final try about 5 minutes later, but never forming a true funnel again:



Not a bad evening

PS, not sure whether this was a convergence funnel or if there were supercell characteristics, but will let the experts give their ideas.

[Tony Sales]

I think your right, looks to me as though it probably touched down, some of the show the funnel half way or more to the ground nice report

[Uskys]

Great stuff Paul, an interesting account and demonstrates well what to look for.

[Tony Gilbert]

Well done Lightning Hunter!
I don't doubt that there may be some overly sceptical responses from a few UKWW members. Though for me looks like a very weak funnel with a brief touch down. What is also supportive of this suggestion is that one of the photos appears to show what is regarded in the USA as a 'crows foot' wall cloud. This would then go on to suggest that the environment was sheared and this funnel was not necessarily a response to convergence. Not sure if there was any implication of supercell qualities though!

Hope you don't mind but have taken the liberty of enhancing one of your shots which better shows the funnel.

Attached thumbnail(s)

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This post has been edited by Tony Gilbert: 23 April 2012 - 07:38

[Dave Hancox]

Nice one Paul, good sequence to.

[Nigel Bolton]

Looks like a 'tree tickler' to me, nicely caught.

Have no obs for the time just now, but looks like both convergence from the shower to the north, and stronger winds to the south of the shower, caused by gradient and augmented sea breeze, causing shear, were both present.

N.

[mrfizz]

Excellent sequence there! Nice one.

[Howard Kirby]

Great work Paul. The descriptions really help too.

[Bazmundo]

Nice catch, excellently presented too!

[00ctober]

Fantastic sequence of images, well done. It's a strange looking funnel and if it wasn't for it roping out I think people would have been debating as to whether it was just a scud-sucker. It shows that some of the images posted here in the past which people were so quick to dismiss as being funnels may well have been.

[ChaserUK]

Nice one! Very envious! Love the way mother nature illuminated the event - very nice set of pix and descriptions.

[Lightning Hunter]

Thanks for the responses guys - was certainly an exciting experience with all the areas of rotation going on. As I was photographing the funnel, rotation was very apparent right above me too!

Question - is the clear slot to the left of the funnel created by the rear-flank downdraft (RFD)? The clear slot appeared in just a few seconds, just prior to the funnel forming.

[John Mason]

Great sequence of shots - I love that first spin-up one!

Cheers - John

[Lightning Hunter]

Nigel Bolton, on 23 April 2012 - 08:12, said:

Looks like a 'tree tickler' to me, nicely caught.

Have no obs for the time just now, but looks like both convergence from the shower to the north, and stronger winds to the south of the shower, caused by gradient and augmented sea breeze, causing shear, were both present.

N.

Thanks Nigel - yes, I was on the coast at Barton-On-Sea about an hour earlier and it was very blowy on the seafront from a WSW direction. Would be interesting to see some higher res sat or radar images if there are any.

[Tony Gilbert]

Lightning Hunter, on 23 April 2012 - 16:16, said:

Thanks for the responses guys - was certainly an exciting experience with all the areas of rotation going on. As I was photographing the funnel, rotation was very apparent right above me too!

Question - is the clear slot to the left of the funnel created by the rear-flank downdraft (RFD)? The clear slot appeared in just a few seconds, just prior to the funnel forming.

The clear slot or region close to the updraft is usually there in any case with any sheared storm development. Though it is merely visually more obvious when the wet RFD is behind it!
The presence of the RFD is commonly associated with tornado development as the outflow winds from the rear of the storm feed around and into the updraft increasing vorticity on a local scale!

This post has been edited by Tony Gilbert: 23 April 2012 - 17:55

[Chris CW (aka Seedubs)]

Oh no, I am only seeing red x's? Cannot see them in any browser?

This post has been edited by Chris CW (aka Seedubs): 23 April 2012 - 18:35

[Tony Gilbert]

Chris CW (aka Seedubs), on 23 April 2012 - 18:35, said:

Oh no, I am only seeing red x's? Cannot see them in any browser?

Try going to Internet Options- Security then click reset all zones to default.

This post has been edited by Tony Gilbert: 23 April 2012 - 19:26

[Astromadhatter]

awesome photos! i must have just missed this!.

[SavageSkies]

Great pictures

[Lin]

Fantastic series of images! I'm quite jealous... !