A week at Pic du Midi de Bigorre

Three members of our team are staying this week at the observatory of Pic du Midi de Bigorre (southern France, Pyrenees) where one of the two cameras is installed. So far no thunderstorms have occured in the near area and there was no chance to catch sprites. We are working on educational material on sprites, waiting for thunderstorms (they are finally possible this weekend!) and admiring the beautiful landscape of the mountains.

Update: too bad the stay was planned in advance, as there eventually were almost no thunderstorms at all this week, except far over northern Italy again. Puy de Dôme has unfortunately been out of business due to local network/computer problems.

Thunderstorm Outlook 22-26 August

The last few days were not successful in catching any sprites - storms happened mostly over northern Italy and some weak ones over the western Mediterranean, it is far and clouds were sometimes blocking the view. Going by the model forecasts, a high pressure area is going to be present over western parts and this is no good for thunderstorm development. Perhaps as we get closer towards the weekend, isolated storms could form over Spain.