Incredible Shelf Cloud Over Southern France! (credit: Meteo Europe)

DISCUSSION: As strong storms fired up over parts of Western Europe during the past few days, there were a few particularly impressive storms with truly incredible storm structure!  In this one example attached below, you can clearly see a truly gorgeous shelf cloud bearing down this particular beach along the shores of Southern France (specifically in Varlas-Plage).  Shelf clouds typically develop as a result of warmer air being lifted up and over the incoming cloud deck which causes rapid condensation in the form of the visually-evident shelf cloud.  In this particular case, you can clearly see how there was a rather long shelf cloud indicating that there was very efficient displacement of cooler air above the deeper incoming convective storm(s)!  Just a very neat case to say the least considering the incredible size of this shelf cloud! To learn more about other high-impact weather events from across Europe, be sure to click here!