News and updates on all things atmospheric electrical, with a UK focus. Edited quotes from the great CTR himself.
Joined November 2016
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Thanks to @suziesheehy for being one of the few particle/accelerator physicists to appreciate my meteorological work, and highlighting it on Start the Week on BBC Radio 4 this morning. bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016x8…
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
"Red sprites" have gathered a lot of attention on social media recently. These are a type of electrical discharge that occurs 50 - 80 km above thunderstorms, caused by powerful cloud-to-ground lightning strikes (often positive in polarity) that excite nitrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere. While rare, these have been photographed in the UK on many occasions!
This quoted post is unavailable.
St. Elmo’s Fire and the Hidden Current That Electrified Atmospheric Science scienmag.com/st-elmos-fire-a…
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
You can look at fog in a variety of ways, some more niche. The Reading observatory records atmospheric electricity; suspended water droplets absorb the ions that give the atmosphere its electrical conductivity, so the potential gradient near the Earth's surface rises.
swsc-journal.org/component/a… May 2024 geomagnetic storm affected the global electric circuit. And the paper cites me. What's not to like?
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
This is what some Sprites sound like when using a NASA VLF-3 receiver. The video and audio were recorded at the same time. @DeborahTiempo @adamonzon @NASA @NOAA @AMSAtmoElect @atmos_elect @SPACEdotcom
@universetoday @spritacular @vaisalaxweather
@ASIM_Payload @NWS @NWSSanJuan
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
Thunderstorms are now developing towards the south of my ENH risk in Wales and England. Storms will continue to track NE as the day progresses
In Kent and other part of the SE, later on tonight sufficient shear and cape will be in place which will likely create the environment needed for rotating updrafts and potential a very small risk of a brief tornado however, funnel clouds cannot be ruled out.
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
An unbelievable day for thunderstorms across the UK.
We’ve seen numerous funnels, a possible tornado near Gloucester, reports of large hail and possible supercells. Some storms remain slow-moving and could continue for the next few hours, bringing an increasing risk of flash flooding.
We’re currently around 25,000 lightning strikes and could exceed 30,000, a level considered a very active thunderstorm day in the UK.
Given the severity and widespread nature of today’s storms, you could argue this has been a small-scale severe thunderstorm outbreak.
Activity should gradually weaken later this evening, but storms remain ongoing for now.
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
Convective outlook has been updated ⛈️
Valid: Now - Thursday 21:59
The high risk has been expanded across East Midlands. handry-outlook.github.io/Thu…
Convective outlook has been updated ⛈️
Valid: Now - Thursday 21:59
A high risk has been issued across many parts of Midlands.
See dicussion in handry-outlook.github.io/Thu…
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
Out today our new paper about the @metoffice new lightning location system LEELA rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.co…
London’s worst-ever lightning tragedy | Wanstead Meteo wansteadmeteo.com/2013/08/01…
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
An interesting (and cheap to build) circuit design, although if the local atmospheric electric field is anywhere near 13kV/m, then I would not recommend trying to measure it with a telescopic whip antenna. ⚡⛈️
@atmos_elect @EngineerLondon @PE1RDP
How can you observe the electric fields produced by an approaching thunderstorm?
Elektor’s Lightning Intensity Detector uses a simple antenna and CMOS Schmitt triggers to monitor changes in the atmospheric electric field. Two LEDs indicate when the field exceeds approximately 1.3 kV/m and 13 kV/m.
This compact 9 V circuit is an interesting introduction to electric-field sensing and threshold detection. It is intended for educational use only, not as a lightning warning or safety device.
Read the article:
elektormagazine.com/news/cir…
Surface radioactivity influences on atmospheric electricity during stable boundary layer conditions sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
Convective outlook has been issued ⛈️
Valid: Today 0600 - WED 05:59
Widespread showers and scattered thunderstorms are expected across many parts of UK and Ireland.
handry-outlook.github.io/Thu…
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
Red Sprite triggered by a -152.7 KA stroke over a storm just south of Puerto Rico on July 31 2026 at 8:23pm. @adamonzon @DeborahTiempo @spritacular @NASA @AMSAtmoElect @atmos_elect @NOAA @SPACEdotcom @ASIM_Payload @vaisalaxweather @NWS @NWSSanJuan @weatherchannel @spaceweatherman
glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/py…
To be a pyrocumulonimbus rather pyrocumulus, the firecloud must contain lightning, hail or have ice near its top.
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
⛈️✈️ Voici l'une des très rares images que l'on a pu avoir de la cellule qui se dirigeait vers la Corse hier soir, depuis un avion au-dessus de la Méditerranée.
L'activité électrique y était pratiquement extrême.
#orages
⛈️⚠️⚠️ Il y a actuellement un monstre qui évolue en Méditerranée et qui se dirige droit vers la Corse dans le plus grand des calmes.
🔸Il y a très probablement une tornade (trombe marine) très virulente là dessous. La signature des différents radars est l'une des plus nettes que j'ai jamais vues en Europe, sans parler de la vitesse de rotation. L'air aspiré converge à plus de 115 km/h à plusieurs kilomètres de la probable trombe marine.
🔸 L'activité électrique y est pratiquement très sévère, avec plusieurs impacts par seconde simultanés.
🔸De gros grêlons y sont probablement en train de précipiter ainsi que de fortes pluies et de très violentes rafales de vent.
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
Look at this 😳
The storm currently raging over the Mediterranean is making history right now.
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️
Off the coast of Antibes – Monaco it has turned into a true lightning bomb. Countless flashes, sometimes more than one per second.
But the real madness started a few hours ago and is still ongoing:
🌀 An extremely rare, powerful and tightly packed mesocyclone is currently active over the Mediterranean.
Inbound (green) and outbound (red) velocities are almost stacked on top of each other. maximwx measured a VROT of around 59 knots (≈ 109 km/h).
This is an exceptionally high value for Europe, and especially for the Mediterranean.
Typical fair-weather waterspouts rarely exceed 30-40 knots. A 59-knot rotational velocity clearly confirms this is a true tornadic waterspout produced by a supercell.
The same cell later produced a second rotation with VROT exceeding 50 knots, and a rare “donut hole” appeared on reflectivity — something almost never seen on European radars.
This is one of the cleanest, strongest and most textbook tornadic waterspout-producing supercells we’ve seen over the Mediterranean in the summer of 2026.
If it had moved inland the damage potential would have been significant, but its track is remaining entirely over water.
The radar data alone is already in the “insane” category.
#Supercell #Tornado #Waterspout #Lightning #SevereWeather #Mediterranean #StormChaser #Weather
CTRWilsonAtmosElect retweeted
The monsoon through my lens. Man, I wish I could spend a whole month in the SW
apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.… Atmospheric electricity is @NASA astronomy picture of the day today! I anticipated the existence of upper atmosphere discharges in the 1920s but their existence was not proved until many years later.
