April 26th: Sunset Hail Shower, Hampshire

It's been another slow start to the year weather-wise for 2013, with a cold late winter and record cold spring so far. This was pretty much the first day of decent convection since last October here! Due to cold sea temperatures in spring, we really need a flow from the north to get the best of any showers as the sun starts to get stronger. On this day, a trough moved down and reached us by around 1930 BST. Ominous signs as it started to develop just to the north:

As it moved overhead, very stong gusts of wind hit as the cold downdraught descended from the cloud. A few hailstones signalled the beginning of the downpour:

Only a minute or so later a hail shaft is clear to see. Graupel, sleet and hailstones of 1cm all came down in the mix:

As it moved through, a rainbow made a brief appearance, with a shower behind that produced some thunder over Calshot, a few miles to the SE:

Looking north, the colours of the setting sun made for some great light:

An 'orphan anvil' hovered above:

The colours were also good looking back south again as the anvil from the hailshower caught the sun:

Finally, some decaying mammatus as the sun sets: