Severe Thunderstorms and Lightning Barrage in Columbia County NY, June 20, 2024

Описание: During the end of June 2024, an early summer ridge had resulted in record to near record high daily temperatures across the Hudson Valley. By June 20th, this ridge began to flatten out as an upper-level shortwave moved rapidly eastward from the Great Lakes. With temperatures in the 90s and dewpoints in the low 70s already in place, moderate instability existed across the region. Meanwhile, the aforementioned shortwave and an associated cold front to the north provided enough large scale forcing for thunderstorms to develop. The combination of moderate instability and about 25 kts of low to mid-level shear allowed for some storm organization. While isolated damaging wind gusts did occur, these storms also produced a prolific amount of lightning due to updrafts reaching heights of 45,000 feet. I chased 3 separate storms in Columbia County NY from the early afternoon into the evening. The last storm, which developed along the southern end of a slow moving squall line, was the most intense of the three. The storm produced heavy rain, wind gusts up to 40 mph, and some intense CG lightning (particularly staccato strikes) along the back side of the updraft as it departed to the southeast. Much of the footage from 2 minutes onward is of this storm, filmed in the rest area along the Taconic in central Columbia County.