Thundery Falls

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

I hate this expression "Thundery Falls"
It's just like 'mini' tornados as far as I'm concerned.
A thunderstorm is a thunderstorm as far as i'm concerned.
If a coldfront comes over delivering a what is forecasted a thunderstorm, thats OK
In Westland where there are lots of thunderstorms within the cloud,over there the term'Thundery Fall's is OK because you get occasions where there is 8/8 Ns cloud cover and there may be a rumble of thunder heard,and you can't see any lightning, but in a general forecast, 'thundery falls ' for other parts of the country, as far I'm concerned, it is as if the rain is so heavy it is going to thunder down, as in some circles, "Hey, it is really pissing down out there"
Maybe they could use the term "cloud increasing with some lightning possible", but does that sound dramatic
What do forum members think of this?

[snowstormwatcher]

I remember a few years ago in Late may Metservice were forecasting "Rain with heavy thundery falls" during a SE rain event Where there was clearly no chance of thunder, so I presume when Metservice use the term "thundery falls" they are more referring to the rate the rain is falling rather than an actual thunderstorm ie the rain rate is similar to what would be expected during a thunderstorm.

[Tornado Tim]

I'm not particularly fond of "Thundery Falls" either. In the U.S they call it either a Thunderstorm or a Thundershower which is what I think they should call it.

As far as I am concerned Thundery Falls could mean really heavy rain that sounds like thunder.

[NZstorm]

The term 'thundery' is used in the UK a lot.

Met Service would only ever use the term thundery when lightning was expected.

[Paul Mallinson]

Thundery falls is an economical use of words when a forecast is fairly long. If we think storms are likely to be pretty raunchy, then we will switch to using the term thunderstorms to give emphasis. In Canad we used to use thundershowers, but this term isn't very good when thunderstorms are embedded in a frontal rain band. That's when the term 'thundery falls' is particularly useful.

Paul

[Manukau heads obs]

raunchy....now theres an idea for a term to use instead...LOL

[Simon Culling]

Steven is correct that the phrases 'thundery rain' and 'thundery showers' are often used by forecasters here in the UK. They use the term when word counts for broadcasts are short and saying things such as 'areas of heavy rain with the odd embedded thunderstorm' just takes up too much time. Such is the importance we put on forecasting the weather that broadcasters only allow a minute or so for a presentation about the whole of the UK with all the different weather that can be occurring at the same time. Anyone who has seen a weather forecast in the UK will also know it is usually Londoncentric and often barely mentions severe weather in the north!

[Razor]

I don't mind the term- seems failry self explanatory to me and I'd expect to hear thunder from such a forecast.

[mikestormchaser]

Im with you on this John, I can understand say the west coast having ' thundery falls' but not such parts as Canterbury.
i dont like the term thundery showers either, usually when u get a trough come through in summer we will get a "thunderstorm" along the windchange and that will be it.
Because for some reason that windchange is the main trigger and once thats through normally the air will start to stabilise.
Iv always just thought if someone says 'thundery showers' it means we are in for a chance of a thunderstorm somewhere in that area forcarsted.

[Storm Struck]

Thundery showers just generally means theres the chance of thunder and lightning in smaller shower cells but not very frequent perhaps 3-4 claps of thunder in one cell, this is very common in the winter months more so with heavy hail/grapel or snow showers.
If i was to word it i would say, " showers some heavy laced with hail and the chance of thunder" as apposed to " showers some heavy with isolated thunderstorms and hail possible" .

[mikestormchaser]

But to me that was my point, any shower that can produce thunder and lightning to me equals a thunderstorm, it has reached that intensity within the cloud itself, just means its not a big storm. just small.

[Nev]

The forecast Karen gave on Sunday evening for Chch was, '…some heavy, possibly thundery, falls in the afternoon with hail'. Seems fairly self-explanatory to me.

Here's one pretty good online definition…

thundery rain:
A phrase used in weather forecasts when some quite sharp bursts of rain are expected from large areas of unstable medium cloud - with some 'rumbles' of thunder; the thunder not the most significant feature of the situation, and no well developed thunderstorms with associated hail, squally winds etc., are expected.

[Simon Culling]

The last definition by Nev seems to fit what I think the forecasters are trying to convey. The time restriction element of the broadcasters has meant the forecaster has had to compromise, but in this case, it is not too bad an attempt. From reading the reports on this Forum, it is more likely that 'thundery rain' would occur in NZ rather than widespread active thunderstorms and this certainly would apply to the UK.

Thundery showers in the UK refers to the one or two thunder clap showers we get in all seasons and that particularly affect the western coasts in Winter when the sea is warm relative to the land. This is a less accurate descriptive, I think.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Hey Guys, thanks to the response/comments and replys to this topic.
Despite the pros and cons, I still think that thundery falls is inappropriate in my books, but then....