Crazy Storm Weather and Lightning - Global

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532032858075832320

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532042399245078529

https://twitter.com/x/status/1529700394825302019

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532214203330666496

Meteorological risk bulletin Center Region - Loire Valley

Evolution of the meteorological situation:

Heat risk: This Thursday, before the arrival of possible storms at the end of the day, it will be hot on our territory this Thursday afternoon with values often between +25°C and +30°C over a very large southern part Center – Loire Valley and between +22°C and +25°C in the North of Eure-et-Loir .

Stormy risk: Between the end of the afternoon and the evening, stormy showers and localized thunderstorms will occur in the
South of the Center - Loire Valley , mainly in the South of the Loire (stormy risk much more isolated/limited in the North) . Under the strongest storm cells,hail (very locally hailstones of 1 to 4 cm) , heavy rain (very locally > 20/30 mm) and good gusts of wind (locally > 80/90 km/h) will be probable. Some sectors will be spared. The rainfall accumulations will remain very heterogeneous from one sector to another, given the stormy nature of the precipitation. A supercell type thunderstorm and an isolated vortex phenomenon will remain probable , given an unstable and sheared environment. The stormy potential will be "better" in the direction of Berry .

To learn more about this thunderstorm risk near you, click here

To follow thunderstorms near you, click here

To know the current conditions (temperatures, observations, rainfall, gusts of wind, etc.) near you, click here

French Observatory of Tornadoes and Severe Thunderstorms

KERAUNOS - Observatoire Français des Tornades et des Orages Violents - Prévision, suivi et étude des orages en France

Orages et tornades en France : prévision, suivi, actualités, climatologie, informations. Le site français de référence sur les orages et les tornades en France. Prévision, suivi et étude des orages en France.

www.keraunos.org

Flashback:
Drastic Rise In High Arctic Lightning Has Scientists Worried - Cosmic Ray's Are To Blame - GSM Much?
Magnetic Reversal News
Jan 9, 2022

‘Drastic’ rise in high Arctic lightning has scientists worried https://bit.ly/3f1JvQW Another sign things are getting weird: Lightning around the North Pole increased dramatically in 2021 https://cnn.it/3G9w65t Increase in Lightning Strikes Expected to Ignite More Wildfires https://bit.ly/3G9w79x Cosmic Rays and Lightning 1933 https://www.nature.com/articles/132712c0 Do cosmic rays cause lightning? https://bit.ly/3FdUUHT Do Cosmic Rays Grease Lightning? https://bit.ly/3HMeIEe Cosmic rays illuminate the electric fields that cause lightning https://bit.ly/34zJzpa Mystery gamma rays could help solve age-old lightning puzzle https://go.nature.com/3JTy4Jb Cosmic Rays and the Weakening Solar Cycle https://bit.ly/34ssoWp Galactic Cosmic Radiation in the Interplanetary Space Through a Modern Secular Minimum https://bit.ly/3r25Gw4 Team makes breakthrough in understanding rare lightning-triggered gamma-rays https://bit.ly/3HK9kkU Do cosmic ray air showers initiate lightning?: A statistical analysis of cosmic ray air showers and lightning mapping array data https://bit.ly/3qYSeZK

 

[XPan]

Lack of Lightning over Sweden, May 2022

During May 2022, in my opinion the frequency of lightning was very low, on the verge of unusual low. Usually you would get at least a couple of times an onset of lightning over a larger area in Sweden - but this year the highest amount of lightning was registered on 31 May 2022, with a mere 320 lightning strikes at the most. I have not seen any lightning nor heard any thunder over Stockholm this year (but I do have seen shower cells with anvils far in the distance).

The lack of lightning May 2022 compares similar to the poor months of May in 2008 and 2017 (e.g. shown in the last two charts further below) Even May 2020 was rather poor.




I should add that May is considered to be part of the main thunderstorm season in Sweden. In direct comparison to the other, main summer months of June, July and August - May is still on the weaker side. Nevertheless, past charts show that May can indeed be very lively in terms of Thunderstorm activity (see below)

---

Lightning over Sweden during earlier years
It was definitely more spectacle on display over the Swedish skies

---

Memory lane • 26 May 2003

You can see in the chart for May 2003 above, that a "red trail" goes right over Stockholm. That event I remember from 26 May 2003, because it was an unusual strong thunderstorm cell, possibly a super cell traversing from south east of Norrköping (200 km away) across Stockholm all the way up to the coast 90 km to the north. During short times the rain was extremely strong. Here are some photos I made from the approach of that super cell as the onset of the storm unfolded very rapidly.

I was prepared because one hours earlier, I saw how small clouds quickly created streaks with embedded "mini towers" (Altocumulus castellanus and Altocumulus floccus "fluffy" starting to expand) Often indicative for approaching or developing thunderstorms hours later.


An innocent start... 26 May 2003. 07:29 - then around 09.30 the sky all of the sudden started to look ominous


It took only 2 minutes from the first photo of the T-storm cell 09:36, until the sky was very dark and rain started to fall (09:39), which after an additional 3 minutes later (09:43) turned into a super rain (albeit not that long lasting really).


Very dark "light" 09:44 - even the street lights form the Nynäsvägen highway turned on again

 

[Ca.]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532584104067272704

Line-1
Stormy activity well sustained since yesterday evening initially on the Massif Central a little more to the south than expected then by Aquitaine going up on Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. Several #supercellules often giving hail.
Line-2
Proof of this is the sometimes intense electrical activity under certain cells.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1530919993185124352

So I finally managed to capture these so fleeting TLE! Phenomenon occurring above powerful thunderstorms, at an altitude of more than 80 km.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532542622769758211

Hmm..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532539771276382208

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532244724819664897

 

[Mari]

Another hail storm in Croatia!

Vineyards destroyed in Croatia, vehicles stuck on the road due to hail​

A strong storm with hail and wind also devastated the Croatian Zagorje on Thursday. The worst was in the villages along the border with Slovenia, where hail the size of a walnut fell. The mayor of Kumrovec described the stormy weather as a catastrophe and explained that huge amounts of hail on the roads in some places completely stopped traffic.

According to locals, the storm in the area of the villages of Kumrovec, Zagorska Sela and Klanjec was so severe that hail completely covered the yards of houses, streets and meadows in just a few minutes. It looked like it was snowing, they add.

Due to the huge amount of hail on the roads, traffic was completely stopped in some places. Mayor of Kumrovec Robert Šplajt he doesn’t remember anything like that. “Disaster, disaster! Cars are stuck on the roads. I would go check the situation on the ground, but I can’t go anywhere by car,” he told the portal yesterday Zagorje international. In some areas, it also caused up to 70 centimeters of hail, which completely whitewashed the place.


It was also severe in Zagorske Seli. The mayor there Ksenija Krivec Jurak she assessed that the situation in the municipality was bad and that the damage was great. “The cornfields were completely destroyed, everything was white as if it were snowing. Hail the size of a walnut was falling.”

Mayor of Klanjec Zlatko Brlek he also expects a lot of damage. “It’s very severe, the storm came from Slovenia, it lasted five minutes,” said Brlek, explaining that hail the size of a hazelnut fell first and then the size of a walnut. “The damage to crops and vineyards is certainly 100 percent and I simply have no words to describe it,” added Brlek for the Croatian news agency Hina.

For the portal 24sata the mayor of Krapina-Zagorje County commented on the consequences of the strong hail storm Željko Kolar. He said the roads had to be plowed because of the large amount of hail. He explained that several landslides were triggered, the kindergarten in Klanjec was damaged, and meteor water flooded the primary school in Trgovišće. “It’s a vineyard area, everything is destroyed,” Kolar added.

Photos and video below are from Jutarnji list:

https://www.facebook.com/698230666899728/photos/a.712836945439100/5266451413410941

 

[Pierre]

Red sprites observed above Mont-Blanc (French Alps). The phenomenon is simply extraordinary:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532611405140074499

 

[Thor’s Pantheon]

Red sprites observed above Mont-Blanc (French Alps). The phenomenon is simply extraordinary:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1532611405140074499

Truly extraordinary as you say, and quite beautiful.

Obviously a form of lightning, but I wonder why the colour is typically red or orange? Maybe something different in the frequency of the electric energy that is coming into the atmosphere?

Have there been other observed colours?

Just starting my Internet research, but this is very fascinating indeed.

Thanks for the post.

 

[XPan]

Introducing, the Green Ghost

May 31, 2020: Want to discover something new? Keep an eye on the tops of thunderstorms. Sprites, trolls, elves and pixies: These are just a handful of the exotic phenomena that have surprised resea…

spaceweatherarchive.com

Spaceweather.com Time Machine

Related in connection to sprites but perhaps not exactly answering your question if other colors exist than red or orange.

I believe images (the appereance) of sprites are influenced by a camera’s color balance setting. Looking orange-red if the camera uses a daylight balanced setting (around 5500°K or higher) or turning more neutral in appearance with a hint of blue if the camera’s color balance was set to tungsten (3200°K) or lower.

 

[Pierre]

why the colour is typically red or orange?

Here is an answer:

Sprites are associated with positive cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning discharge, and they last from about 5ms to 300ms(Rodger, 1999). Sprites usually have a column-like composition, with a lot of fine structure. They extend from about 30-40km to about 70-90km, with a primary body at about 50-60km. Their horizontal extent is about 25-50km, with a bright core <10km wide (Rodger 1999). The main upper portion of sprites are red in color, while the lower tendrils go from red to blue with decreasing altitude (Sentman et al. 1995). These colors are caused by the excitation of molecular nitrogen (the brightest lines in the spectrum are in the ranges 650-680nm and 750-780nm).
Source

 

[Thor’s Pantheon]

Here is an answer:

Does this suggest that there is a difference in the nature of the nitrogen at different altitudes?

I also wonder how recent this phenomenon is. Are there historical examples or is this new?

I intend to look into it more.

I just find the photo so beautiful - it has peaked my interest.

Might even be worth a side thread.

 

[Thor’s Pantheon]

Does this suggest that there is a difference in the nature of the nitrogen at different altitudes?

I also wonder how recent this phenomenon is. Are there historical examples or is this new?

I intend to look into it more.

I just find the photo so beautiful - it has peaked my interest.

Might even be worth a side thread.

My feeling is that "Something is happening in the Cosmos" As we all tend to believe.

 

[Nienna]

Thor's Pantheon, if you put the word "sprite" (without the quotation marks) in the search engine here on the forum, you will find many posts that talk about them.

Also, if you do the same on sott.net, you will get a lot of articles that discuss them.

 

[XPan]

The lack of bad weather over Amsterdam

I really didn't know where to put this, despite trying to find a suitable thread... It is about an article from yesterday, 4 June 2022, which caught my attention. Nothing major to write home about, and yet... something bothered me.

KLM no longer allows passengers at European destinations to board flights to Amsterdam

Update on KLM operations on Whit Monday weekend At the end of Saturday afternoon, 4 June, KLM was regrettably compelled to decide that passengers at

www.aviation24.be

So, this article describes a "situation" at Amsterdam Schiphol leading to that KLM no longer allowed passengers at European destination to board flights to Amsterdam. It sounded pretty dramatic in a way. And wrote:

At the end of Saturday afternoon, 4 June, KLM was regrettably compelled to decide that passengers at European destinations would no longer be allowed to board flights to Amsterdam. Although a substantial package of measures was taken before the weekend, KLM has faced unforeseen and urgent circumstances that are beyond its control. Due to unfavourable weather conditions and runway maintenance at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, many aircraft couldn’t land or take off in Amsterdam.

"Due to unfavourable weather conditions..."

Since I love weather, i checked what was going on over the skies of Amsterdam.

Absolutely nothing !


There were no storms. No bad weather. No thunderstorms. (those were over France and entered Belgium space and then dissolved, never touching Holland - and by afternoon of 4 June 2022, the skies were clear ! Closest lightning, small blips over Rotterdam, happened in the past 12 hours, today 5 June 2022 instead. And so rain was recorded on 4 June 2022 (until 20.00 local summertime). It is confusing, and I hope I didn't miss anything (weather related).




Why are airlines increasingly blaming weather conditions

for closure / disruptions, when there are no real weather related events ? Is this a sort of automated standard blame-game ? And what does it take, for people to be honest these days - it seems to have gotten so out of fashion. (a few times I have challenged my bosses at work about that... since our Chinese subway company in Stockholm, uses the similar "unified, automated language" publicly towards passengers... for just about everything.

 

[Chad]

The lack of bad weather over Amsterdam

[...]

Why are airlines increasingly blaming weather conditions

for closure / disruptions, when there are no real weather related events ? Is this a sort of automated standard blame-game ? And what does it take, for people to be honest these days - it seems to have gotten so out of fashion. (a few times I have challenged my bosses at work about that... since our Chinese subway company in Stockholm, uses the similar "unified, automated language" publicly towards passengers... for just about everything.

Interesting!

I recall that at least one US airline blamed 'bad weather' for cancellations back in Oct of 2021, but it seems what really happened was that their staff were protesting against the airlines to enforce the vaccine mandate. An independent reported checked their claims and found that it was actually a perfectly fine day for flying!

Report here: Rebellion? Southwest Airlines cancels 1,800 flights, blames 'bad weather' - Meanwhile pilots file court order against Biden's vax mandate -- Sott.net

More recently, on the 27th of May, EasyJet cancelled 240 flights claiming that there was an 'IT problem', but the report also claimed it was due to 'a combination of issues', and later it becomes a bit clearer that at least one of the issues was a lack of staff due to lockdown layoffs.

EasyJet has cancelled more than 200 flights over half-term from London Gatwick, upending the plans of tens of thousands of holidaymakers in the busiest period for air travel since the pandemic.

The last-minute cancellations came the day after the airline, Britain’s biggest by passenger numbers, suffered IT problems that left a further 200 flights unable to take off, and followed cancellations earlier in the day at London Gatwick in the early morning peak.


Friday was the busiest day at British airports since the start of the pandemic, as half-term holiday began for the vast majority of schools across England and Wales. Travellers trying to take cross-Channel ferries also faced long queues at Dover, while drivers around the country were warned to expect jams.
IT glitch creates turmoil for easyJet passengers across Europe
EasyJet’s decision to cancel about 240 flights over 10 days had been prompted by a combination of issues affecting operations, a spokeswoman said. She said: “We have taken the decision to make advance cancellations of around 24 Gatwick flights per day starting from tomorrow 28 May until 6 June.

Manchester airport, where there have been some delays, said it was expecting a busy weekend – but that while queues in security had been as long as one hour early on Friday, they were now moving quickly. The airport is seeking to recruit hundreds of new security officers, after taking on 200 starters in the last month.

Unions warned that delays were likely to play out through half-term and could be worse in the summer holidays.

Unite, which represents tens of thousands of aviation workers, blamed airlines and airports for laying off employees during the pandemic and paying low wages.

EasyJet cancels hundreds of half-term flights from Gatwick as getaway begins

Could the shutdown by KLM in Amsterdam be due to a lack of security staff? (or similar?) Well, i guess we'll need to see what other information comes out.

As for why they're being dishonest, if it's for the above reasons, perhaps they're trying to cover up their mistreatment of staff, bad planning, general incompetence, as well as an attempt to prevent the situation causing alarm.

 

[तत्परिवर्तनं भव]

The lack of bad weather over Amsterdam

I really didn't know where to put this, despite trying to find a suitable thread... It is about an article from yesterday, 4 June 2022, which caught my attention. Nothing major to write home about, and yet... something bothered me.

KLM no longer allows passengers at European destinations to board flights to Amsterdam

Update on KLM operations on Whit Monday weekend At the end of Saturday afternoon, 4 June, KLM was regrettably compelled to decide that passengers at

www.aviation24.be

So, this article describes a "situation" at Amsterdam Schiphol leading to that KLM no longer allowed passengers at European destination to board flights to Amsterdam. It sounded pretty dramatic in a way. And wrote:



"Due to unfavourable weather conditions..."

Since I love weather, i checked what was going on over the skies of Amsterdam.

Absolutely nothing !


There were no storms. No bad weather. No thunderstorms. (those were over France and entered Belgium space and then dissolved, never touching Holland - and by afternoon of 4 June 2022, the skies were clear ! Closest lightning, small blips over Rotterdam, happened in the past 12 hours, today 5 June 2022 instead. And so rain was recorded on 4 June 2022 (until 20.00 local summertime). It is confusing, and I hope I didn't miss anything (weather related).

View attachment 59277 View attachment 59278
View attachment 59279

Why are airlines increasingly blaming weather conditions

for closure / disruptions, when there are no real weather related events ? Is this a sort of automated standard blame-game ? And what does it take, for people to be honest these days - it seems to have gotten so out of fashion. (a few times I have challenged my bosses at work about that... since our Chinese subway company in Stockholm, uses the similar "unified, automated language" publicly towards passengers... for just about everything.

I have moved from Croatia to Netherland 2 months ago, now I live close to Schipol airport, and I can confirm yesterday was a beautiful day, here close to airport. Indeed something strange is happening all over Europe, my folk back home in Croatia are saying that it is unusualy hot and storms are hiting them hard every couple of days like never before,destroying crops...

 

[XPan]

Could the shutdown by KLM in Amsterdam be due to a lack of security staff? (or similar?) Well, i guess we'll need to see what other information comes out.

As for why they're being dishonest, if it's for the above reasons, perhaps they're trying to cover up their mistreatment of staff, bad planning, general incompetence, as well as an attempt to prevent the situation causing alarm.

This was my first silent thought

after I saw that there was nothing unusual going on about the wether over Amsterdam. And yeah, the other thought that came to mind was exactly like you mentioned above; e.g. what happened back in Oct 2021 when Southwest Airlines was lying about the weather. (But i didn't remember the finer details and names really) Thank you for that, Chad.