The gremlins of technology have been with us for the last two days and I have been unable to access the blog site due to what appears to be a problem with the French site being down for maintenance.
Rolling two days flying in to one blog seams like a good idea as the weather on both days had the same trends and eventual outcome by mid to late afternoon.
Forecasting the location of afternoon thunderstorms is obviously something that the French Metrological office at St Auban have refined into a fine art and their morning forecast has been surprisingly accurate in the last two days. Despite knowing that the storms are going to develop, it never fails to surprise me how quickly they develop from a small Cu in to a raging Cu Nim and how it then moves in any direction they like. It really focuses the mind when the storms are near the airfield and how quickly wind direction goes from light southerly to 20kt northly within moments.
Both days showed signs of Cumulous developing over the high mountains before the morning briefing at 10 am and by the time we launched around midday some of the tops were starting to go ballistic. The three-hour weather window has allowed us to explore the local area with diverse conditions ranging from having to park on a small ridge for half an hour waiting for a thermal to kick off to cloud base going being over 10,000ft in the high mountains near Barcelonette. Today the Duo with Merv an Ed Foxon on board ventured east towards Mont Viso and the Italian border with the return journey around the thunderstorms sounded very interesting. Hopefully I can post some photos later when we download the cameras
As I write this blog in the early evening I can hear the thunderstorm rumbling away in the La Motte valley and the rain that’s falling looks like it may stop our evenings BBO at the house.
Colin
Rolling two days flying in to one blog seams like a good idea as the weather on both days had the same trends and eventual outcome by mid to late afternoon.
Forecasting the location of afternoon thunderstorms is obviously something that the French Metrological office at St Auban have refined into a fine art and their morning forecast has been surprisingly accurate in the last two days. Despite knowing that the storms are going to develop, it never fails to surprise me how quickly they develop from a small Cu in to a raging Cu Nim and how it then moves in any direction they like. It really focuses the mind when the storms are near the airfield and how quickly wind direction goes from light southerly to 20kt northly within moments.
Both days showed signs of Cumulous developing over the high mountains before the morning briefing at 10 am and by the time we launched around midday some of the tops were starting to go ballistic. The three-hour weather window has allowed us to explore the local area with diverse conditions ranging from having to park on a small ridge for half an hour waiting for a thermal to kick off to cloud base going being over 10,000ft in the high mountains near Barcelonette. Today the Duo with Merv an Ed Foxon on board ventured east towards Mont Viso and the Italian border with the return journey around the thunderstorms sounded very interesting. Hopefully I can post some photos later when we download the cameras
As I write this blog in the early evening I can hear the thunderstorm rumbling away in the La Motte valley and the rain that’s falling looks like it may stop our evenings BBO at the house.
Colin
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