Weather

In mid-December 2023, an unusual airflow led to significantly colder than average temperatures to the stratospheric airmass above western and central Europe. One of the side effects of this was the possibility of observing polar stratospheric clouds in the region. Forming only temperatures below -79 Degrees C, they are best looked for around sunrise and sunset when these high altitude clouds are illuminated by the sunset. PIP #1: PSC seen from the National Glass Centre. PIP #2: Another view of the PSC above Sunderland.

A squall line forming an impressive shelf cloud as it is about the move over Sunderland. As expected, it brought very intense but short lived rain and gusty winds. PIP #1: The rain radar screenshot shows the precipitation band stretching across northern England.