Afternoon Storms Again Drop Heavy Rain, Move Toward Coast

Oct 14, 2013

14 October 2013, 17:30 UTC: Once again, another upper-level energy impulse is being tracked by the Guinea Met Service using the Total Lightning Network and analysis tools. This line of showers and storms has been tracking very slowly from Moyenne and Haute Guinea toward the coastal Basse Guinea region.Simulated PulseRad radar tracked the strongest of the storms moving out of the hilly region east of the coast. The storms were producing vivid frequent lightning, heavy rain with some flash flooding and also gusty winds.

Radar shows area of strong storms tracking toward the coast between Boke and Fria.

Rainfall was very heavy, over 100mm in some locations east and southeast of Boke. Many areas had over 50mm from storms that moved very slowly westward.

PulseRad Storm Total Rainfall — Total lightning system calculates storm rainfall based on flash rates.

Meteorologists were watching Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts (DTAs) that had been automatically issued based on lightning rates detected by the total lightning networks. These alerts included areas just to the south and east of Boke.

Guinea Meteorological Service ENcast forecasts, had shown a steady increase in thunderstorm probabilities in the forecast throughout the day. Forecasts called for the highest probability of storms for around 18:00UTC, almost exactly when the storms moved into Boke.

ENcast Forecasts had been showing a steady increase in thunderstorm probabilities leading up to the afternoon storms.

PulseRad shows that the heaviest of the storms were passing north and south of the city center of Boke.

PulseRad simulated radar shows the heaviest storms movgin just north and just south of the city center. — PulseRad simulated radar shows the heaviest storms passing just north and just south of the city center.

Even though the heaviest of the storms were being tracked to the north of Boke, rain rates were still impressive, 15-25 mm/hr rates in the city center.