There is something about thunderstorms which get the Brits very excited and we are no exception. Forecasting them however is extremely tricky and requires a knowledge of various weather variables.

Metcheck Stormwatch combines all these variables and also scans the UK every 30 minutes for developing thunderstorms or reports of storms.

Above is the latest weather forecast for this location. The data shown is :-

Time : This is the start of the forecast period until the next one
Temp : This is the maximum temperature expected at 2m across the region in the 3hr period
Thunder? : This is the risk of thunder/lightning being heard/seen across the region based on the Showalter Index
Tornadoes? : This is the risk of tornado/funnel cloud development across the region based on helicity and lifted index.
CAPE : This is the convective available potential energy at this location in the 3hr period
LI : This is the lifted index expected across the region in the 3hr period
Rain : This is the amount of any convective rainfall expected in the 3hr period
Rate : This is the intensity of any convective rainfall expected in the 3hr period
Speed : This is the average wind speed at steering height within any storm cloud in the 3hr period
Storm Dir : This is the wind direction at steering height within any storm cloud in the 3hr period
Weather : This is a combination of all elements displayed as a weather icon