AUTUMN 2003 - PART 6:
THE 26th NOVEMBER HAILSTORM

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On the 26th some atmospheric instability hinted at the possibility of thunderstorms. Radar indicated that these were developing to the south, over the Cambrian Mountains, while a colleague on UK Weatherworld reported thunder near Brecon, so a recce was made up to Dylife and on to Llanidloes....

A very late autumnal scene from the top of the pass looking towards Glaslyn and Plynlimon. The precipitation over the mountains was falling from a small cumulonimbus to the N of the main, radar-indicated one. I drove through it on the way to Llanidloes: hail, sleet and snow...
The northern side of the bigger cumulonimbus (from Llanidloes to Brecon, nearly 40 miles across) came into view towards Llanidloes but was not incredibly photogenic. This is looking east at mammatus on the anvil underside...
and this is looking west over Llyn Clywedog...
On through Llanidloes towards Llangurig, I just missed the precipitation core's northern side. But I soon found myself in its aftermath. Turning west along the A44 the hills and road gradually got whiter and whiter with fallen hailstones....
Looking west up towards Eisteddfa Gurig. The road got dodgier and dodgier towards the top of the pass. An inch or more of hail had fallen: this might not seem much but beginner drivers ought to take note that, apart from black ice, swathes of hailstones create the most dangerous driving conditions. You are basically driving on lots of little ball-bearings made of ice which in terms of traction score pretty low on the scale! Snow is much less hazardous by comparison. My wheels were spinning as I pulled out of the layby and I took the pass at a crawl as did, thankfully, all other traffic; the next five miles were all like this before I got out of it between Ponterwyd and Capel Bangor...
Later that afternoon I headed back from Aberystwyth to Machynlleth in fading light, but had to stop at Glandyfi to capture this lone cumulonimbus towering beyond the estuary...
By the time I approached Machynlleth the Cb had decayed. This is not a great photo due to lack of light & longish exposure, but it illustrates what happens. The convection weakens and the towers of cloud collapse, but the anvil aloft remains, becoming severed from its parent cloud. Off it drifts as a mass of cirrus. Sometimes on thundery days many of these can be seen in the sky. USA storm-chasers refer to them as "orphans". Not the best day for photography, then, but as Mid-Wales hailstorms go that was quite a bad one!
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