Date: 09-09-1998
Time: 12:30 BST
Location: Macclesfield, Cheshire UK
Type: Convectional Multicell
Documented by: Mark Seltzer
Equipment: Mk1 Eye (no footage taken)

Storm Statistics: T0018.doc
Event Timeline: T0018events.xls

Unfortunately I was at school during the passing this storm, so there is no photogenic footage unless I draw a sketch of what my Mk1 eyeballs saw. The only reason I kept a log of it in the database as T0018 is because, at the time, I witnessed it and wanted to log each and every storm that had happened in Macclesfield that year. So I have kept it in so that it doesn’t mess up the proceeding storm numbers!

In fact, I had set the camera up at home ready to film as I was expecting the storm all day. One swift phone call and it would have been documented, however the phones at school were out of order and in that day and age I didn’t have a mobile. So I stood under shelter from the splintering rain watching it with my friends. There was no lightning activity until the rain had stopped and it had trundled to the Northwest. The first thunder to be heard was a substantial bass-boom that sounded crisp and clear without the noise of the rain. At that point the inevitable happened and everyone who was stood outside cheered in unison. The effect the weather has on people!

At that point I started watching it as it went off into the distance. A distant C-G struck from the side of the storm which in turn gave another distant thunder. It had a few strong towers building at the back of the storm, which explained why the lightning hotspots were at the rear. Other storm cells were visible around it to the North West and South East, all of which appeared to be sharing the same anvil.

It almost flooded the school again as T0014 successfully did with the torrential rain. If it had rained much longer at the same intensity it would have been close. There was also a mini tornado reported in South-Derbyshire today on the news.

Synoptic Analysis
The synoptic charts from the Met Office showed the showers in the northwest were associated with an active trough hanging from a parent Low which was quite deep at 980mb, showing a dart-board isobar pattern with the polar front way into the North Sea and continent. The airmass appeared to be a Returning Arctic Maritime flow (almost Polar but not quite) as it was the only Low in the area. This suggests the air over the UK would have been very unstable, especially with the warm sea temperatures at this time of the year.

DUNDEE SATELLITE IMAGES (CREDITS)
VISIBLE 09.09.1998 14:15
INFRARED 09.09.1998 14:15

VISIBLE 09.09.1998 14:15 + Grid
INFRARED 09.09.1998 14:15 + Grid