Regional Climate and Instances of Weather Phenomena

The climate of the region, or the atmosphere’s average condition over a long period of time, is classified in the Köppen system as Cfb. The first letter "C" represents a mild mid-latitude or Goldylocks climate. The second letter "f" is a precipitation indicator that reflects year round wetness. The third letter "b" is a temperature indicator that reflects warm summers. Together the Cfb categorization of the region can be described as a Marine West Coast climate that is in line with the region's geographic positioning. 

A Köppen Classification Map of Europe. You can see the Nord Pas de Calais is shown as Cfb just to the south east of the British Isles. Photo Credit: http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/11/1633/2007/hess-11-1633-2007.pdf

In early August 2014 A tropical cyclone named Hurricane Bertha,or Typhoon Bertha as she would be known in the eastern hemisphere, passed over the North Sea and battered the Nord Pas de Calais region of France. The storm resulted in heavy rains across the region  for several days. The outer bands of the storm helped spawn an F1 tornado in the region; meaning wind speeds were measured between 86-110mph according to the Fujita Tornado Classification System.  This tropical cyclone's cyclogenesis, or development of cyclonic circulation in the atmosphere, began thousands of miles away over in the Cape Verde Islands before moving southwest toward the Bahamas, up the U.S. eastern seaboard and back across the Atlantic ocean before making land fall in the British Aisles and Northern France.

                                     Photo of the remnants of Bertha over the North Sea on Aug. 11, 2014                                                                                     Photo credit:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Bertha_2014-08-11_VIIRS.jpg

During  subsequent storms in Bertha's wake several instances of lightning, or a discharge of electricity between large volumes of excess positive and negative charge, were reported in the region.  The picture below is indicative of the lightning strikes reported during the storm. Characteristics of this lightning include forked lightning, where the channel splits up in mid air forming two or more forks. We also see what may be a red sprite in the middle of the picture, or a positively charged cloud to ground strike that glows red.

Lightning Strike off the coast of France.Photo Credit:http://afp-photo.tumblr.com/post/63158482388/france-nice-flashes-of-lightning-strike-above#.VGT4zxa4E0I

Research Resources Include:

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Climate/EarthTempClim/EarthTempClim.html

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Climate/Weather/Weather.html

http://www.lille.climatemps.com/

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/lille-france-climate-weather-14029.html

http://www.weather.gov/mhx/Jul121996EventReview