Simon Wyndham wrote in message ...
Hi,

Layperson question. Has a supercell TS ever been recorded in the UK
before? Much has been made of the discovery of the supercell in the UK,
but was this discovery made from observing other countries, or from an
actual occurrence in the UK?

Simon

Simon and all,

As others have mentioned, without Doppler radar it is difficult to
answer this. However, my opinion is that low-topped or "mini"
supercells are rather common in the UK, as high wind shear coupled
with instability is common, especially in autumn/early winter. This
type of storm has been studied with Doppler radar in the US,
especially in California. They tend to produce weaker tornadoes than
their "Great Plains" cousins, though. However, the mesocyclones they
produce are thought to have similar strengths to the Great Plains
events, as the CAPE is concentrated in the highly-sheared lower
atmosphere.

I never understand why people think we can't have supercells in the
UK, as, if the conditions exist, they will occur. I admit that the
Great Plains-sized events are quite rare, but I suspect that many of
our severe hail storms, such as August 25th, 2001 in Lincs and the
massive June 7th, 1996 outbreak contained supercells, especially the
latter, where some of the hail swaths were over 100 miles long...far
too long and organised for multicell stuff.

cheers,

Paul K.