Summer Storms

 With the summer warming rainfall has been at record levels all over the eastern states of Australia.
On Wednesday night at around 8Pm a huge rolling front passed over South Eastern NSW.
Approaching at about 40Km/h, it could be heard when still 5Km away like a jet engine as  hail and torrential rain fell at the lip of formation.
The Photo below has no colour adjustment and was taken minutes before its arrival.

Needless to say the cloud was extremely charged and produced a number 

of huge lightning strikes and sheets  that spanned the sky.

The photo below reminds me of a shot I've seen showing the discharge of electricity 

in a charged plastic sheet. Those who have seen such a  shot will notice the similarity.

The charge is passing over to another cloud, and not to the ground, balancing with the potential at the seaboard.

The aftermath saw hail at a maximum of around 1 cm, with the shot below 

giving an idea of the gusting strength.

The mist is not a dirty lens :) it lay directly behind the front and was heavily charged 

also producing continuous flashing in the sky.

 

All in all one of the most violent storms I have experienced.

Being a bit of a storm chaser, it was nice to bring the work home for a change.

I was made aware recently that storms, worldwide, are becoming more charged as time progresses.

I would not be surprised if this was linked to increased solar output and interactions 

of charged with the magnetosphere .

A study on the regularity and intensity of Northern/Southern lights

 in relation to lightning activity could be interesting.

This link on the magnetosphere makes an interesting read also.

26.10.10

This link has a interesting study on Solar flares and interactions with the Troposphere.