Line of Thunderstorms Hit the Bay Area (March 8, 2010)

Watch in 480p (High Quality). In this video, it shows our area getting some unexpected, possibly strong, thunderstorms. The forecast said for just a little bit of a shower or two. However, our area has been moist and the atmosphere was still quite moist from the previous rains. Therefore it's a perfect condition for tstorms to develop. The first line of thunderstorms brought rain and even small hail to our area. I also never seen such rain shafts. It was amazing. As the thunderstorms arrived over our area, it began to form mammatus clouds. It also created a cold outflow, which is the flow of wind out of the precipitation area of a shower or thunderstorm. As the thunderstorms moved over our area, it dropped some small hail, but no heavy rain. Later, I was treated with one of the most wonderful rainbows I've seen, was a full rainbow, with the green foothills of Mt. Hamilton. As evening came, another weaker line of thunderstorms arrived to our area, bringing rain for the evening hours. What a great El Nino we are having this year!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• thunderstorm
• rain shafts
• cumulonimbus clouds
• skies
• weather
• storm
• El Nino
• rain
• small hail
• hail
• great outdoors
• meteorology
• Bay Area
• California
• March 2010
• gusty winds
• cold outflow
• mammatus clouds
• rainbow
• nature
• skyscapes
• San Jose

[Jdub1515]

why is it that west coast storms have no vertical build like the traditional ones you see in the midwest and florida? they're so horizontal (just as potent) ... and they build and dissipate 10X faster

[54spiritedwill54]

@Jdub1515 typically the clouds/storms here have no strong convection. The dew points here are quite low so that means the humidity is low, preventing the build up of those large type cumulonimbus/storm clouds that are found in the Midwest and Florida. The west coast has the least amount of thunderstorm frequency in the U.S. So it's no surprise that even if we do get t-storms, they're smaller in size.

[tornadovideostock]

Nice video!! Glad to see you guys are getting some interesting weather there :)

[wgjpinoy654]

wow, those are some cool mammatus clouds! I really love the rainbow with the green hills, lovely! 5 stars to ur vid! Hope to see more :D

[longbeach225]

@Jdub1515 Well I wouldn't say all west coast storms have no vertical build. I have seen vertical build reached up to 40K feet (40,000 feet) with low topped supercell. Nevertheless, the vertical build is not as great as the Midwest and southeast of the US.

[pGeeful]

Out of all of those rain shafts not one bolt of lightning eh? But, great double rainbow and mammatus clouds!

[chellerina]

Awesome footage, especially those mammatus clouds. Beautiful rainbow as well! 5 stars to your vid!

[jdeguzman81]

impressive tstorms. I think we had hail here as well while I was taking a walk with my dog. cool stuff

[ZCP1364]

i rember this in tracy the couds were mooving fast and swallowed the sun. there was alot of thunder and lighning and here in tracy there was hail

[Dvoracekmara]

And I see pirates from Silicon Valey 2....how about Bill?

[Dvoracekmara]

Hello, nice storm video and rainbow!!!

[LindaKitch]

Thanks! Very nice video!