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Here's the one that didn't get away. Taken at Crawley, West Sussex.

Managed to get a few shots at Pevensey last night, although the rain hit and forced me under cover before the lightning came close enough to catch the spectacular crawlers that followed.

Put together some of the better lightning strikes my dash cam caught last night. Must have been dozens I witnessed, but dash cam didn't get them all. This was down by Brighton and then Eastbourne.

GIF time! I made this animation of the airmass composite:

Do they? Oh ok, right you are then. You could of course have quoted said "way of the pear" musings by way of illustration - but I accept that would conflict with the real purpose of the post and not match its implication. There isn't any further comment needed really.... So, lets look at such a recent pear-shaped extract from almost a week back. A good illustration of why these summary posts can be so useful - for continuity purposes update and review of progress ....as well of course also any departures from expectations.... They are easily found in anyone's profile... Notwithstanding the obvious indicated ascendancy of the trough into week 2 as expected (first full week of June aka next week) the broad-scale pattern is not any departure from that outlined in that previous post extract - and there remains plenty of inertia within an embedding seasonal default Atlantic trough and downstream ridge signature to re-amplify the Euro ridge and adjust the warm air advection profile back towards at least some of us With geographical re-assignment of the UK an unfortunate human impossibility option to change things, whatever the knowledge and standing of the weather NWP observer, this type of summer pattern always favours southern and eastern UK more than north western most parts of the UK. Still, much better to be starting the season with the default tipped towards a trough/ridge profile than a ridge/trough one. It is, after all, very hard to achieve warm air advection and any plume scenario whatsoever around the top of an Atlantic ridge into an upper cold pool trough... Whilst the more changeable and mobile outlook arrives from the coming weekend, but only after some further very pleasant and warm weather this coming week, its been notable already in the last couple of weeks, how often operational models have attempted to raise pressure over the pole and towards Greenland and force the jet south beyond the t144 period - but then adjust back to the Atlantic trough/downstream ridge profile. Plenty has already been said about this previously in terms of the default summer pattern Some will continue to angst over (seemingly) every face value operational suite no doubt as I understand completely that it suits the purpose. ECM 12z unfolds already. I am equally sure further outputs will suggest more horrid "write offs" of *insert period of choice* In the days ahead and when time permits I would continue to watch on tropical forcing upstream to start to adjust the pendulum back towards downstream amplification of the Euro ridge and renewed warmth from the continent. Irrespective of what it shows, in that regard it will be interesting to see the updated ECM weeklies from week 3 which suggested support for that on Friday. For anyone who resolutely sticks to the dark side though, week 3 takes us from about mid June. If a happy pill doesn't materialise, or the recommendations made here simply doesn't wash, then someone with a crystal ball who can make to measure/manage expectations to any personal wish list will definitely help. Or maybe the model moods threads is the more suitable place to mutter darkness of the models (or apparent soothsayers) instead.

Had quite a nice night, had plenty of lightning and thunder but as usual it being night time, the quality of capturing lightning is hard and usually terrible quality, but I saved 3 lightning strikes and in the process of uploading my 20min video of the MCS as it was happening

Gotcha!

I did the same, went from Camber - Dungeness - Dymchurch. A whole bunch of cg's out to sea before any rain arrived and once the torrential rain started there was non stop strobe lightning, absolutely crazy!

Hi Guys, Got hit nicely last night! You could hear it coming for a while rumbling in the distance like a distant aircraft, Was constant! Saw it was at 640 strikes a minute when it was in the channel. By the time it got to me it was running at about 200 strikes per minute. Lasted over three hours in all. The core of the cell went past about 2.30am. Pics are from just after midnight. Lightning was some of the best I've ever seen in this country.

Well what can I say. Mental Thunderstorm in Plymouth on Saturday. I have posted a video up on my Facebook page please feel free to share it if interested. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1345582552184830&id=462445190498575

Just got back from Dungeness and Camber. I can honestly say I have never seen anything quite like that before. A mixture of CTG and intercloud lightning of varying colours from pink through to golden through to green. Booming thunder but sometimes almost throttled by comparison. Genuinely lightning every half a second as the main cell past up the channel. Roads flooded on the way back to Ashford. A memorable night for sure.

Just spent the last 2 hours on the sea wall at camber,absolutely amazing,lightning was unreal,I posted numerous videos on facebook live,1 guy was even streaming my live feed on the web,1st time ive ever gone storm chasing,man I need to get out to america,what a night its been

How can it be a Kent Clipper when we've had a half decent thunder & lightning show, here in Dorset?

I just went out for a smoke, and no kidding - a huge +CG maybe 2 miles from here. I saw the bolt shoot straight down, and a massive gunshot of thunder!

I like night storms for the lightning and daytime storms for seeing the cloud formations.

Ok the video has been uploaded, the storm starts to get going at 6:00

quality of lightning last night = epic quantity of lightning last night = pathetic probably only had about 8 lightning strikes last night but each was pretty special - some of the longest (distance) and longest duration C-C crawlers I've ever seen - epic thunder associated with it pity not a lot of it

This was the ultimate kent clipper.

This one was bloody bright!

We've just had a heat wave, followed by storms. Now the air is much much cooler, and there is a blanket of thick stratus hanging over the hills with drizzle falling intermittently. And I love it. The fine mist falling brings out the subtle and delicate smells of the new plant growth, and walking in the nearby woods you can see how thoroughly it covers every leaf, blade of grass and flower with fine droplets as well as fine rivulets running along some sections of the wood. The drizzle is not constant, and I love how its intensities vary as it comes and goes, with curtains of droplets that fall and often with tiny droplets dancing through the air as though they were in brownian-motion. I like the ambience it creates, the light winds and the stillness associated with it. It has a comfy quality, whether you choose to walk in it or observe it from outside whilst sitting by a fire reading. I've never seen the fields look so green when it comes and is prolonged. Come, join my Drizzle Cult. I don't want to be the only member....

Yeah there's no lightning on it

@ThundersnowDays You reminded me that i have some Tcu's pics with pileus that turned out the storm i had early saturday afternoon,they was shooting up very quick

I've just woken up after not going to bed until 6am, as this is the time I got home from my storm chase last night. It was an evening of mixed feelings. At one point as I arrived at the M25, I was excited seeing a strong MCS moving over the channel and heading NNE towards the SE. I was heading eastwards into Essex and it looked as though I was set to be right underneath it. To then see it decide to turn more NE and hug the East Sussex and Kent coastline made me feel utterly disappointed. My problem was I had forgotten my cash card and knew I only had enough petrol to get about as far as the Dartford Tunnel, any further and I would not get home. I came off the motorway and parked up near to Tilbury getting a bit of video of some very distant lightning from the south. After a bit I got fed up of standing in the rain to film the odd flash of lightning that was about 20 miles away and sat in my car pondering the time and money I had just wasted. Just then a big crawler lightning lit up the sky to my south-west and was followed by the first audible thunder. For the next hour I stayed put and watched the show around me. There was not much lightning, probably one a minute at best, but when it did happen it was bright and sometimes flashed multiple times. There was the odd impressive IC bolt thrown in too. Winds had also increased but were making it cold for standing outside, it appeared to be cold outflow from the storm. As the storm moved away I began heading home, it was probably close to 3am by now. Driving through West Tilbury I saw the most incredible IC crawler followed by a massive CG bolt. The thing pulsed and went on for about 3 seconds. I will have captured something as I was filming on my dash cam, but the bolt was to the right of the car so no chance I caught that. Considering what should of been I think what happened was disappointing, and if only I had not forgotten my cash card and had therefore been able to get further SE. I know though that it could have been so much worse, and it felt almost as if the slim pickings I did see were a consellation prize but a prize none the less. Yes ok, I have spent a lot of money and had a whole night on the road, but absolutely sod all happened in Derbyshire again. I do have some video to get through and edit today though once I have woken up properly, I just hope it's all worked, as this is the next heart in mouth moment when you are out filming storms, did it actually record properly? The question now is, when actually will anything happen in Derbyshire again??

My convective/storm forecast for today, just updated. Storm & Convective Forecast Issued 2017-05-28 22:08:52 Valid: 29/05/2017 06Z to 30/05/2017 06Z CONVECTIVE/ STORM OUTLOOK- 29TH MAY 2017 Synopsis Upper trough axis approaches western Britain from the west, as upper ridge extending north from the Mediterranean across Central Europe begins to relax. A plume of warm, moist and unstable air will be present across central, southern and eastern England on Monday, ahead of cold front moving in from the west, which will clear eastern England Monday night, diurnal heating of this warm humid air combined with breeze convergence could trigger some isolated thunderstorms. DAY 1 OUTLOOK - 06Z MONDAY 29TH MAY - 06Z TUESDAY 30TH MAY ... S ENGLAND, E WALES, MIDLANDS, LINCS AND E ANGLIA ... Atmosphere in the morning will likely be largely turned over by overnight storms, with a cap in place. However, abundant mositure (dew points 16-17C) and surface heating combined with breeze convergence ahead of cold front moving in from the west across England and Wales may trigger isolated thunderstorms during the afternoon across the above areas. 30-40 knts of deep layer shear should favour organisation of storms, bringing a risk of localised torrential rainfall leading to flash-flooding, isolated large hail and gusty winds. Also, an isoalted tornado can't be ruled out with storms forming along breeze convergence zones

Got back almost one hour ago, and I gotta say....very hit and miss night! In general, I'm very disappointed, but it could've been worse. I did witness about 40-50 flashes, and drive through absolutely torrential rain just north of Brighton, but in terms of watching a frequent light display, it wasn't the case this time. Ultimately, two lessons to learn from tonight: 1. I left at midnight. Had I left about 1 hour or so earlier, I'd probably have caught a bit more where I ended up, which was some pier front beach in Eastbourne, though I did try Beachy Head too but didn't see all that much....I delayed my departure though as frankly I wanted to be damn sure these storms weren't just going to die over the channel as has happened before.... 2. No doubt had I left earlier, I'd have caught more lightning from the beach spot I found, but next time.....if in doubt, choose Kent! Had I gone to Folkestone or Dover (which were only 15-20 mins more in the car!!!) I'd have seen far more than in East Sussex. So there we are, disappointing but not terrible. I have a dash cam and will scan through my footage on there tomorrow, as it should have caught at least a dozen or so decent lightning strikes, otherwise, I got damn all on my Iphone and DSLR camera.

All Lightning in the past 72 hours.

Some great lightning at Beachy head

We are parked at a very wet and windy Beachy head. Still lots of lightning and crawlers filling the sky. What a night!!

Screen grab from video...storm here 6/10 so far. Frequent lightning and increasingly close thunder

We have driven from Swindon to Brighton and are continuing towards Beachy head where we will stop. Loads of Lightning and torrential rain!!

Kent clipper (at best) rinse and repeat for the last god knows how many years now, someone needs to do a PhD on this!! Bon nuit.

No detectors seem to be picking up the lightning around here, not even my own when the CG hit. It's still thundering too.

Here it was just before the rain got intense about 15 minutes ago

Cheers Harry. Praise be to the dash cam, lol. The secret weapon in any storm chasers armoury, I guess. Without that I'd have had nothing to show for last night. Def recommend dash cams with a 32GB memory card or more (gives you 3-4 hours recording before overwriting starts) for anyone storm chasing!

I saw a chart earlier showing the last 3 days lightning strikes with a void over the Midlands and some of CS England. If the high res charts are correct today then that void could be closed out a bit, to just include Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire . It is annoying though, i remember back in 2012-2014 the East Midlands was doing great for storms.

I think we sit in a sort of void when it comes to storms,at least severe storms anyway; often in the last couple of years at least, North West set-ups have seen areas like Manchester/Bradford and North Yorkshire do really well, where as we miss out. Whenever home-grown storms are on the cards, South Lincolnshire/Peterborough area is the place to be and we end up being too far West/North. And then if by some miracle, an MCS did make landfall, the chances of it surviving this far north are slim, based on recent years anyway. But, its only May, we have 4 months of storm season to go yet, maybe this year will be different!

Totally agreed TN26. Was posting in a tired and partly drunken stupeur last night. But in the (hot and humid) light of day, I can see without exaggeration that it was the most electrified storm I have ever seen over the UK. Last year there was a storm just as electrified but which mostly stayed over Belgium. Full range of lightning from IC to CG to anvil crawlers. Full range of colours, reds/oranges, to blues/greens to pinks/whites. Thunder mostly high level, muffled crackly rumbles, but there half a dozen ground rattling boomers and one shotgun crack. Echo what others have said, some of the flashes (more so the IC/anvil crawlers) went on seemingly for several seconds and covered the whole sky, in some cases from Hythe/Dover to Ashford. I believe there had to be every joule of 3,000 MUCAPE modelled to experience that. I've got some video and snaps to share, but not sure whether we can directly upload videos to here. Will have to wait until I have a laptop to fire up. Based on the models and TV forecasts I thought I had made a duff decision (in want of storms) coming to the coast. Apparently I was inadvertently right. As for today, very warm and humid at the moment even near the coast. Would anticipate one or two storms today but not going to guess when and where.

For me it was the mcs that hit us in july 3 years ago,that monster was immense,looked like something from independence day,when that shelf cloud steamed in,it was like,BOOM,trees snapped in half,debris everywhere,and me,24 and 1/2 stone,laying in a trampoline to stop it flying off

I hope someone else is seeing this - tried to capture some video although not sure all the lightning has come out in it. The lightning in this competes with the supercells I have seen in the US, unbelievable showing. So so so pleased I decided to put family first and headed to the coast. Would have been gutted had I missed this.

This is unreal - literally flashing every second or two. It's a proper electrical storm by any definition of the word.

Here's a couple I caught on the IP cam..

WTF have I just seen, quite possibly the longest horizontal lightning known to man, left to right followed by a very long and deep peel of thunder, it's not a fantastic storm but it beats sleep lol

seems to all be moving towards kent

This has happened a lot over recent years, where massive mcs travel east along the channel and head to Holland/Belgium. It's a shame we never seem to get a direct hit.

Might just graze past the east coast and intensify in Area 51.

I guess it could be perceived as a Kent Clipper if viewed from 500 miles above Earth?

Geeeze I just nearly peed myself! Massive crack and flash bang over head!!

Friday night might have been one hell of a light show. But tonight - the thunder, whilst infrequent, is incredibly loud!