Friday 24^th November – Preparation

After monitoring consecutively released weather charts it was becoming obvious that a severe depression was heading towards the UK for early Saturday morning. However the Met Office was very uncertain of it track and intensity and was being cautious at predicting even 24 hours in advance. By mid-day Friday the Met Office issued an early sever weather outlook which covered the eastern and southern counties of England. The UK Storm Chasers set off from Winchester and headed eastwards setting Folkestone, Norfolk as there initial target. However during a fuel stop on the NE side of the M25 our data sources phoned to update us that the Met Office had reduced the watch area to SE England. Our target was then changed to Ashford, Kent which we finally reached at 10pm. After booking a room at a Travelodge we went on a desperate hunt in vane for internet and finally gave up at 11pm.

Saturday 25^th November – Part 1

At 5:30am the UK Storm Chasers headed for Dungeness, a point chosen for its exposed location. Using our new Kestrel 3500 personal weather station we took wind speed measurements finding at 7:30am the maximum gusts to be 41.3mph (35.9 knots). Unfortunately this was weaker than predicted due to the depression not becoming as deep as predicted.

Saturday 25^th November – Part 2

Upon heading to Reading to meet friends the UK Storm Chasers encountered absolutely torrential rain. Reports of hail in surrounding locations were observed but not directly by us. There was a large amount of flooding and surface water.

Saturday 25^th November – Part 3

On reaching the M25 a huge storm appeared o be developing to our south west, heading north East at great speed. Although needing to head west to meet friend, the UK storm chasers decided to veer eastwards to intercept the storm on the north east side of London. By the time we reached the Dartford tunnel the storm was ahead of us but we soon got close to the core and observed what seemed to be a messy wall cloud. However no rotation was present and after chasing the storm to Chelmsford the storm began to decay and so we called it a day.