The #WestAfricaWaterPlume is rather spectacular in its presentation this morning. Roughly the size of Mexico and growing rapidly - a massive river of moisture which has just reached Italy.
This view shows satellite estimations of rainfall. Again the European @ECMWF weather model appears to have massively underestimated this event. Also on the face of what we can see so far it is turning Eastwards - which is not what many models were predicting.
Here are the current ECMWF predictions as of now, at midnight today, and at midnight Saturday and Sunday.
This corresponding set of images extends the picture into Europe - showing the impact.
The impact includes a massive rain band from Spain to Belarus and beyond over the next 72 hours.

The shunting effect of the incoming wet air is interesting. A first rain band starts almost immediately as far east as Belarus, followed by the impact of the main event.
In this @zoom_earth live animation of satellite imagery from 10.30am to 13.30pm today it's pretty clear this shunting effect, similar to that in the 17th-19th April Sahara Transit event, is already underway.
And with respect to precipitation the four major models I follow are now in agreement. Here the CMC, GFS, KMA and Access-G for the next four days.

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More from @althecat

1 May
There is something glorious about the images that @zoom_earth captures. I especially like the large symmetrical and fairly stationary area of cloud in the North Atlantic in this image.

Today's May 1sy Forecasts for #Ethiopia and #MiddleEast rainfall follow. Image
The main action today was in Europe where the strengthening #WestAfricaMonsoon #WMA has today had a spectacular impact on European Weather.

A detailed thread covering those events can be found here.
Today's North African long range (12 day) rain forecast is taken from the Korean KMA model as it looks to be a lot closer to what we are seeing in the skies today. Image
Read 5 tweets
1 May
I have been tracking the cause of the suddenly extreme weather which is currently underway for past month. The immediate cause is described in this thread

There was a precursor event from April 17-19.

This one is a lot bigger.
And it is far from over. There is at least three more days of incoming #WestAfricaWaterPlume
Read 11 tweets
1 May
The transformation of #WestAfricanPlume's presentation overnight is extraordinary. It's line has moved 1000kms east. It's still running as hot as last night.

A rough estimate of the speed of the cloud movement last night put it an over 220 kms per hour. Image
To comprehend the scale of this thing a series of three animations follows.
Africa and Western Europe...
Read 27 tweets
1 May
This #WestAfricaWaterPlume thingamy is ruining May in Europe. /1 ImageImageImageImage
The wet Atlantic air is set to make its way up into the arctic and settle a low pressure system over Scandinavia.

Together these two factors result in a continuous flow of cold air from the arctic over Scandinavia and North Sea and the UK.
I spent May 2017 in Glasgow and it was glorious. By the end we were getting 29 degree days and everyone was out in the Botanic Gardens with shirts off.

And in Geneva the past two years it’s been a bit thunderstormy, but only in the afternoon. ImageImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
30 Apr
Today's #ArabianStorms went in a different direction during the day, but ended up in a familiar place in the end.

Today's #MiddleEast and #Ethiopia #HornOfAfrica rain forecasts follow in the thread below.
In the animation above you can see a flow of clouds from Sudan to Oman. This flow actually originates to the South West in the Central African Republic. Here you see the CAR to Khartoum leg of the journey.
Over the day this stream of moisture intensified powering storms in Oman, which then split into two streams, one heading north over Iran and one to the East to India.
Read 13 tweets
30 Apr
In the world of Africa/Europe/MiddleEast weather today has been quite spectacular, in a new and revealing way. And the star of the show has been the #WestAfricaWaterPlume.

See also.. a thread from this morning....
.. and for a full backgrounder this thread from April 27th.
The plume has now stolen the European stage entering stage left and heading directly towards Moscow. The precipitation animation below is from @Meteoblue. Rain reports are not 100% accurate as they are satellite & not radar driven.

But as for #DesertRain?
There has been a lot.
Read 11 tweets

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