LATEST SKY EVENTS
July 8th 2025
Ballymena Thunderstorm & Storm Season Woes - NEW REPORT
The 2025 storm season is currently the worst I've ever experienced since I first began chasing in 2007 thanks to a bad pattern not to mention relentless capping inversions and other atmospheric nuisances which have suppressed convection, despite chasing on many days, including a recent bust to Co. Sligo. However on July 2nd we got a respite from the lull when Roisin and I chased to Ballymena and intercepted our first close range thunderstorm of the year which produced flash flooding, overhead lightning and laying hailstones within Ballymena town. Will this be the only storm of the season? or does nature have exciting plans in store? One page report with 9 images. - REPORT.
Pulse Thunderstorm Day With Surprise Sunset Storm - NEW REPORT
May 30th introduced the largest coverage of instability across Ireland to date with values peaking at 900 CAPE and LIs of -4. With -35c tops and a warm moist surface flow with strong heating this looked to be a good day. However as the day went on red flags began to appear, while storms rumbled away over the Republic, N. Ireland remained dry all afternoon. The convection was strongly capped and things didn't look good. I went on the hunt in the late afternoon and met several chaser friends. By 6pm the cap broke and a storm erupted over Mfelt with flooding rainfall and hail stones. We relocated to Ballyronan where a storm rumbled away for half an hour. Before sunset my Wife and I encountered yet another storm from Cookstown, the largest storm of the day with beautiful sunlit updraughts bathed in surreal golden hour light. One page report with 16 images. - REPORT.
Major Gorse Fire At Corrick Road Near Lough Fea - NEW REPORT
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Just when I thought I wouldn't experience another wild fire on the scale of Ballygawley I was proven wrong on April 10th 2025 when I spotted pyrocumulus in the sky which correlated with online reports of a gorse fire in the vicinity of Lough Fea near Corrick Road. I drove up for a look not expecting anything major until I arrived at the scene and got the drone in the air for a better look. I was astonished to witness a massive fire in progress burning trees and bushes with multiple sources covering a very large horizontal extent. The scene was spectacular yet terrible in equal measure while almost 50 fire fighters tackled the blaze to bring it under control. This event was followed by another fire on Glenshane Pass for the next two nights when we made an attempt to film the fire at night with the drone. This marks four wild fires filmed within five days making this one of the most active fire seasons in years. One page report with 17 images and 1 video clip. - REPORT.
Major Wild Fire Near Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone - NEW REPORT
A major outbreak of wild fires has been making the news across N. Ireland with 250 fires within a week, most were deliberate. On April 8th 2025 I had intentions of shooting the sunset when suddenly reports arrived on social media of another major wild fire near Ballygawley. I took the chance and drove to the scene to document the event, the fire was massive and over one mile long and wider than any I had seen before with multiple sources. The wild fire was burning near wind turbines and was rapidly approaching a house forcing owners and their pets to evacuate while 45 fire crew with 29 appliances battled the blaze working all through the night with a fire that was as dramatic as it was dangerous in the light of the setting sun. One page report with 22 images and 1 video clip - REPORT.
N. Ireland Storm Chasing Image Reports - ARCHIVE
Astronomy is not the only subject I'm interested in, check out my N. Ireland Storm Chasing section and view the chase reports and images which detail not only storms but other phenomena such as a moonbows, noctilucent clouds, aurora displays and exciting nature related photo shoots.
Martin McKenna
