March 28th: Spring Showers, New Forest

The first convective weather of any note today, 7 months after the last such weather in this area (apart from February's snow). Winter has been a cold one, which doesn't support much in the way of convective weather. This doesn't bode well for spring and summer either, as local SSTs are below average too. Today's showers were relatively weak, containing some modest hail in places (up to 1cm) and some sleet, in the cool northerly airstream, typical of the time of year. By early afternoon, some anvils were spreading across the area, so I headed out. First shot is of a retreating anvil to my SW, with some mammatus visible:

To my north, a new shower was developing in the clear air. Visibility was excellent today, with little low cloud hampering the views:

As the anvil pictured above moved away, I could fill my frame with the whole cell. It gave a brief hail shower to my home at the time:

Meanwhile, the new shower to the north was starting to produce rain and hail as it slowly moved to my NE:

Some virga falling from yet another shower passing to my SW:

I moved on to a new vantage point to get a view as it retreated to my SE and over the Isle of Wight in the distance:

Finally, I stopped off at the coast on the way home, to see the showers pushing out into the Channel: