I see (sorry wrong topic here), that "thundery showers "still pops up in a forecast as opposed to thunderstorms.
A thunderstorm is a thunderstorm, no matter how weak it may be.
I can't see the difference.
....by the way what is a thunderstorm? Haven't experienced one of those in ages?
NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:I see (sorry wrong topic here), that "thundery showers "still pops up in a forecast as opposed to thunderstorms.
A thunderstorm is a thunderstorm, no matter how weak it may be.
I can't see the difference.
Yup, I loath that "Thundery" expression that Metservice forecasters love so much.
Thundery showers, Thundery downpours those expressions are useless. For goodness sake why cant they use the NWS descriptions, ie: Thundershowers or Thunderstorms.
good on yer , Tim
On the West Coast , where low cloud covers up thunderstorm development, you could say that a 'thundery shower" could eventuate, where someone couldn't establish by seeing a thunderstorm development, that if it came onto rain and there was a clap of thunder because of a lightning strike somewhere in the obscured cloud, that could relate into a thundery shower because there was the sound of thunder because of a lightning strike, somewhere, probably in the cloud.
Why not say Showers accompanied by some 'sheet lightning'.
Relevant to forecasting Canterbury thunderstorms, the term 'some showers, possibly thundery' are not appropriate.
Tornado Tim wrote:Getting rid of "Thundery Downpours" would be a start
I agree, just say localised down pours would be more appropriate.
How can that more appropriate if it doesn't include the risk of some embedded thunder/lightning?
NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:I see (sorry wrong topic here), that "thundery showers "still pops up in a forecast as opposed to thunderstorms.
A thunderstorm is a thunderstorm, no matter how weak it may be.
I can't see the difference.
Yeah well, let's just say many would disagree (see previous discussions here and here).
Tornado Tim wrote:Yup, I loath that "Thundery" expression that Metservice forecasters love so much.
Thundery showers, Thundery downpours those expressions are useless. For goodness sake why cant they use the NWS descriptions, ie: Thundershowers or Thunderstorms.
I think the terms MS use are very useful when trying to convey varying degrees of thunder/lightning activity associated with either a brief shower, downpour or a full-blown thunderstorm. They're also the same terms used by forecasters worldwide. So why should we adopt American terminology (which is not necessarily relevant to the the type of thunderstorms we get here), instead of what's generally used by most of the rest of the world?
