Intense severe thunderstorms in eastern France, Luxembourg and Germany last night – August 1, 2017

Widespread severe thunderstorms hit eastern France, parts of BeNeLux and western Germany last night and this morning (July 31/August 1).

Lightning tracks of individual storms mark the zone of severe thunderstorms late last night and this morning over France, Luxembourg and Germany (and W Poland). Over 276 000 lightning flashes were detected in the region over the past 24 hours! Map: Blitzortung.org

A volatile setup over central-eastern France and central Germany yesterday produced widespread severe thunderstorms over the region. An unstable atmosphere, with moderate to high instability with MLCAPE in 1000-2000 J/kg range, overspread by a strong mid-level jetstream, to produce about 40-50 kt deep-layer shear; an environment conductive for formation of intense supercell thunderstorms.

Intense discrete thunderstorms, including supercells formed across W-CNTRL-E France. One particularly intense supercell tracked east of Reims. The supercell certainly produced significant hail, we are still gathering reports.

Intense discrete supercell ESE of Reims, E France just before midninght CEST.

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Airborne view of intense thunderstorms over eastern France at dusk yesterday, July 31. Photo: Lucia Ginestri.

In the morning hours, severe thunderstorms with intense damaging straight line winds and large to very large hail hit the vicinity of Frankfurt, W Germany. Jonas Piontek of Gewitterjagd provided live coverage of the storm.

Approaching QLCS with a spectacular gust front and arcus cloud, as captured by Deutscher Wetterdienst – H.R. Henkes in Rheinstetten and Rüdiger Manig in Neuhaus, Germany. Some exceptional stroboscopic lightning rates were produced by these storms!

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Approaching QLCS in Langenwetzendorf, SE Germany this morning. Photo: Tankstelle Wildetaube.

Lightning over Straubing, Germany. Photo: Stefan Dantinger.

This article is being updated as reports are coming in, so check back soon! Also, feel free to report if you were on these thunderstorms!