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Your Thunderstorm memories (scary or exciting!)


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Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

Wow, what I'd do to be able to go on the USA storm chase with Paul and gang. I'd probably be a little scared of the mega storms though Lol.

I've never seen the sky go pitch black here when we've had storms in the past. Something I've always wanted to see!

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

With enough time on my hands, I have managed to put together a load of memories correlating with lightning archive maps. I'll start with some less recent thunderstorms.

1999 - May 07th

Rsfloc19990507.gif

This day was actually a pretty normal wet day in May with rain falling for much of the day after 10am. However, after lunch, the wind dropped and the rain increased markedly in intensity and after a particularly monsoonal downpour between 2.45-3.15, there was a loud bang of thunder and the rain eased.

1999 - May 27th

Rsfloc19990527.gif

This has to be one of the best I can remember. Having been on a school trip to Cardiff during the day on which we sat outside the castle in hot sunshine and temperatures around 24-25C, the sky grew greyer and greyer around dinner time 6-7pm. The first rumbles arrived around 8pm from the south with sheet flashes and occasional forks. The storm then broke out properly around 9pm and lasted well into the night, not finishing until at least 1-2am. Living in a house with a skylight window, the rain was monumentally loud. I was only 7 at the time but I remember staying up to watch it, planes flying into Bristol airport with lightning strikes all around them. The following morning, there were leaves and bits of twig strewn across the lawn.

1999 - May 29th

Rsfloc19990529.gif

Already amazed by what had happened on the Thursday night, this to follow was like the younger sibling. Again, it was another warm, humid day and had been sunny in the morning. I think this was the day when a large bank of cumulonimbus advanced from the southwest, blocking out the sun. This one was best before the rain actually arrived with frequent lightning and booming thunder ahead of the rain. The storm was also overhead before rain arrived with deafening bangs of thunder and about 2 powercuts. In this particular storm, I do remember flights out of Bristol airport being halted. Then - the rain came and what a period of rain it was. The road became a river in no time with sheets and sheets of the stuff. By this time, lightning had rapidly decreased, probably partially masked by the intensity of the rain but thunder continued until tea time (4-5pm).

1999 - August 08th

Rsfloc19990808.gif

This one wasn't overly notable but I remember it for my grandfather's birthday. A mostly fine day with broken cloud and sunshine and a westerly breeze but we could hear a thunderstorm just to the north moving across. It appeared to be moving eastwards to our north but sidebuilt (sort of) and gave us a share in the thunder and rain. Not much lightning but certainly a switcharound from the otherwise sunny day.

1999 - August 17th/18th

Rsfloc19990817.gif

Rsfloc19990818.gif

I remember these two days for the reason that I had Brasilian family staying and an activities day at my school during the summer holidays. There was a lot of thunder and lightning overnight leading my aunt to comment how like Brasil it was with thunder and lightning without rain just out to the west. My mum was also commenting how she hoped it would calm down before the following day on which I would be having a sporty day. True enough, it was dry and bright the following morning but showers quickly built and the first rumbles were heard around 2pm. The first thunderstorm broke out around 3.30pm and last at least 2 hours leading to a lot of flooding and a powercut at the school meaning an early departure home. There were further thundery downpours into the evening, none with thunder though.

1999 - August 25th

Rsfloc19990825.gif

This was another case of 'time to go to bed' - 'nope, not interested, thunderstorm happening at the moment'. Another one to add to the list of great night-time thunderstorms. If it's the one I remember, it didn't last very long but was quite loud and crashy at times.

1999 - September 17th & 25th

Rsfloc19990917.gif

Rsfloc19990925.gif

Two sunshine and shower days at school when thunder accompanied some of the showers. I think the latter date was accompanied by hail too leaving a slight collection along the side of walkways and roads.

1999 - October 2nd

Rsfloc19991002.gif

This one I actually can't remember a thing about but it docummented in my family's weather records. Judging by the chart archives, it would appear to be in a polar maritime airmass and happened quite late at night, perhaps why I don't remember it.

1999 - December 25th/26th 'A White 'Lightning' Christmas

Rsfloc19991225.gif

Rsfloc19991226.gif

I love those two lighting maps - clearly showing the direction in which the thunderstorms were travelling. A notably active polar maritime spell of weather where rain, hail and snow fell on both days, often accompanied by thunder. I only heard thunder on Christmas Day but shortly after it had got dark on Boxing Day, there was thunder and lightning and quite a raging wind to accompany it. The lights flickered a few times but there weren't any proper power cuts. A notable feature was the sheer volume of the thunder - much louder than anything over the summer.

Edited by Michael Prys-Roberts
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Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

Thanks for sharing Mike,:)

If only we could have all those storms again. Some impressive strikes there. I guess we'll have to wait to see what 2011 decides to give us.:unsure:

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Posted
  • Location: East Devon
  • Location: East Devon

1999 - May 27th

Rsfloc19990527.gif

This has to be one of the best I can remember. Having been on a school trip to Cardiff during the day on which we sat outside the castle in hot sunshine and temperatures around 24-25C, the sky grew greyer and greyer around dinner time 6-7pm. The first rumbles arrived around 8pm from the south with sheet flashes and occasional forks. The storm then broke out properly around 9pm and lasted well into the night, not finishing until at least 1-2am. Living in a house with a skylight window, the rain was monumentally loud. I was only 7 at the time but I remember staying up to watch it, planes flying into Bristol airport with lightning strikes all around them. The following morning, there were leaves and bits of twig strewn across the lawn.

1999 - May 29th

Rsfloc19990529.gif

Already amazed by what had happened on the Thursday night, this to follow was like the younger sibling. Again, it was another warm, humid day and had been sunny in the morning. I think this was the day when a large bank of cumulonimbus advanced from the southwest, blocking out the sun. This one was best before the rain actually arrived with frequent lightning and booming thunder ahead of the rain. The storm was also overhead before rain arrived with deafening bangs of thunder and about 2 powercuts. In this particular storm, I do remember flights out of Bristol airport being halted. Then - the rain came and what a period of rain it was. The road became a river in no time with sheets and sheets of the stuff. By this time, lightning had rapidly decreased, probably partially masked by the intensity of the rain but thunder continued until tea time (4-5pm).

Thanks for these accounts, very interesting. The above 2 charts look to be the type of thing that seems to have disappeared from our summers since 2006, what look like large MCS import systems coming up from the Bay of Biscay area. I have looked through these charts before for 2006/5/4 and seen some similar charts. There also appeared to be a reasonable number of other thunder days in 1999 which also seem to have declined in frequency recently, and they were all events I didn't know about and hadn't seen the maps for before.

I can remember some events I was scared of as a child about then as this was before I became obsessed with storms instead, and we used to have to play a song which I think is called 'riders on the storm' and cover up the real thunder with fake thunder :lol:

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Posted
  • Location: Camborne
  • Location: Camborne

During the Australian 1964 cricket tour they played a match at a village ground in Hampshire. I went along with friend. During the afternoon a violent thunderstorm developed and the spectators, including myself, were all huddled under the trees surrounding the pitch until lightning struck a tree about 50yds away. I broke the record for the time it took to reach the players tent which still stands to this day. Of course in those days I could still raise a gallop.

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Posted
  • Location: The North Kent countryside
  • Weather Preferences: Hot summers, snowy winters and thunderstorms!
  • Location: The North Kent countryside

Best UK storm I can remember was in August 1997. It stayed overhead pretty much all night. No one could sleep so we all went into my parents bedroom ans watched the storm all night out the window. I don't think it went 10 seconds without the sky lighting up and the thunder made the whole house shake. I think we worked out there were 3 different storms going on. The rain was also extremely heavy too, so much so it washed all the scrap and a trailer down the road from the scout hut at the top. A house a few streets over got struck by lightening and burnt down, luckily the owners were on holiday at the time.

The three best foreign storms I have experienced were:

Bangkok - Thailand: We went for a wander around the city when literally out of nowhere lightening was hitting everywhere and the thunder drowned out the noise of the city. Within 30 seconds we were soaked to the bone. A police officer told us to get inside as it was not safe and even the locals were running inside so it must have been serious! It didn't last for long but the place we hid in turned out to be a fantastic restaurant that we ended up visiting regularly. Once it died down we headed back to the hotel and it then picked back up and we watched lightening come down all over the city from the 33rd floor of out hotel. It was quite a sight.

Xian - China: It had been a very humid day and the thunder started to rumble followed by a typical Asian monsoon. We all sheltered in a Starbucks whilst the locals were quite happily walking around with lightening rods AKA umbrellas. There was an outdoor section that was sheltered by a roof so we were all standing in there. i felt a tingle all over my body and then a second later a bolt truck the opposite side of the little garden bit about 15ft away, it made all the little hairs on our bodies stand up and the bang was the loudest thing I've ever heard. It felt like I had a mini heart attack and we all cowered inside until it was over.

Maldives: By far the most beautiful storm I've ever seen. We went just at the of rainy season so out of 14 days we had 3 days of monsoon. It was late afternoon so as the sun was setting the thunderclouds gathered which looked beautiful with the sun going down behind them. the rain started followed by the thunder and then the lightening. Out there it all gradually builds up to a crescendo then suddenly disappears. The lightening was all different colours and it lit up the beautiful ocean in a way that really was breathtaking. We all just stood on the verandah in awe, there aren't words to describe it. The worst part of it happened to fall around dinner time so we had to scurry through the trees to the dining area. all the diners were sitting there looking like drowned rats.

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Posted
  • Location: Bexley (home), C London (work)
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms
  • Location: Bexley (home), C London (work)

Best UK storm I can remember was in August 1997. It stayed overhead pretty much all night. No one could sleep so we all went into my parents bedroom ans watched the storm all night out the window. I don't think it went 10 seconds without the sky lighting up and the thunder made the whole house shake. I think we worked out there were 3 different storms going on. The rain was also extremely heavy too, so much so it washed all the scrap and a trailer down the road from the scout hut at the top. A house a few streets over got struck by lightening and burnt down, luckily the owners were on holiday at the time.

The three best foreign storms I have experienced were:

Bangkok - Thailand: We went for a wander around the city when literally out of nowhere lightening was hitting everywhere and the thunder drowned out the noise of the city. Within 30 seconds we were soaked to the bone. A police officer told us to get inside as it was not safe and even the locals were running inside so it must have been serious! It didn't last for long but the place we hid in turned out to be a fantastic restaurant that we ended up visiting regularly. Once it died down we headed back to the hotel and it then picked back up and we watched lightening come down all over the city from the 33rd floor of out hotel. It was quite a sight.

Xian - China: It had been a very humid day and the thunder started to rumble followed by a typical Asian monsoon. We all sheltered in a Starbucks whilst the locals were quite happily walking around with lightening rods AKA umbrellas. There was an outdoor section that was sheltered by a roof so we were all standing in there. i felt a tingle all over my body and then a second later a bolt truck the opposite side of the little garden bit about 15ft away, it made all the little hairs on our bodies stand up and the bang was the loudest thing I've ever heard. It felt like I had a mini heart attack and we all cowered inside until it was over.

Maldives: By far the most beautiful storm I've ever seen. We went just at the of rainy season so out of 14 days we had 3 days of monsoon. It was late afternoon so as the sun was setting the thunderclouds gathered which looked beautiful with the sun going down behind them. the rain started followed by the thunder and then the lightening. Out there it all gradually builds up to a crescendo then suddenly disappears. The lightening was all different colours and it lit up the beautiful ocean in a way that really was breathtaking. We all just stood on the verandah in awe, there aren't words to describe it. The worst part of it happened to fall around dinner time so we had to scurry through the trees to the dining area. all the diners were sitting there looking like drowned rats.

I remember the Aug 1997 storm very well! It scared the pants of me at the time (I was 10) and did not seem to want to relent.

If I remember correctly, it moved off in the very early hours, to be followed by yet more cells

Edited by Harry
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Posted
  • Location: The North Kent countryside
  • Weather Preferences: Hot summers, snowy winters and thunderstorms!
  • Location: The North Kent countryside

I remember the Aug 1997 storm very well! It scared the pants of me at the time (I was 10) and did not seem to want to relent.

If I remember correctly, it moved off in the very early hours, to be followed by yet more cells

I think that is probably the best storm Kent has witnessed in my lifetime. I heard there was a good one in the Summer of 2005, but I was on holiday then.

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Posted
  • Location: Camborne
  • Location: Camborne

I think that is probably the best storm Kent has witnessed in my lifetime. I heard there was a good one in the Summer of 2005, but I was on holiday then.

Kent had some particularly ferocious storms in 1956, especially the hail storm at Tunbridge Wells. I can only vaguely rember it so had to look it up.

England and Wales was affected by a rapid succession of depressions giving very unsettled weather. The most notable weather occurred on the Bank Holiday (which at the time was at the start of the month) with the arrival of a cold northerly airstream. The instability in the air mass resulted in severe thunderstorms in Sussex and a notable hailstorm hit Tunbridge Wells in Kent on the 6th where hail accumulated to between 1 and 4 feet (30–120 cm). Such was the cyclonic activity that parts of south-east England had thunder on 11 days in the month.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1256/wea.133.06/pdf

Edited by weather ship
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Posted
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl
  • Location: Wivenhoe, North East Essex, 2m asl

Oh yes, summer 2005. June in fact. I was at Glastonbury.

I've never seen a storm like it. We were sat by the bar that used to be uphill from the John Peel Tent. The band British Sea Power had been sat near to us earlier in the evening as I recall. About midnight flashes could be seen towards the English Channel. As they got brighter we headed back to our tents.

Sleep was impossible that night as thunder rumbled around the hills. There was quite a lot of rain so when it eased up at 6am I got up and walked across the site. I was delighted that it had all soaked into the ground and there was no mud. I bought a bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee and headed over to the Pyramid stage to have a sit-down. At that moment there was an almighty clap of thunder, I quickly headed back to the tent and was only 10 ft away when the heavens opened and I jumped under a gazeebo. The rain and hail was so heavy I couldn't actually go any closer.

From my vantage point I saw lightning hit many of the stages and an observation post (about 100 metres from me). A river of flood water came down the slopes and started washing tents away. I can still hear the screams. The whole thing was terrifying. We were stranded for 3 hours on a high bit of ground wondering whether the event would continue. When the first band started up at about 1pm the roar from around the campsite was overwhelming and one of the best things I've ever experienced.

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Posted
  • Location: Bedford Bedfordshire
  • Weather Preferences: Fire tornado
  • Location: Bedford Bedfordshire

Many years ago i was in Africa were i was having a picnic with my parents when our hair started to stand on end! ran to the car and sure enough a tree nearby was stuck which was pretty damn cool. Then that night whatever direction you looked there was constant flashes and rumbles in the distance. But that’s just a normal evening there!

On another holiday i was at the Kennedy space centre in Florida were a storm rolled over while we was inside and the rain and hail was so intense the car park flooded and damaged our rental car lol

I also remeber alot of nightime storms in the uk when i was younger, they would last for hours and the way i knew they was coming was the satalite signal would stop half an hour before!

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Posted
  • Location: The North Kent countryside
  • Weather Preferences: Hot summers, snowy winters and thunderstorms!
  • Location: The North Kent countryside

Kent had some particularly ferocious storms in 1956, especially the hail storm at Tunbridge Wells. I can only vaguely rember it so had to look it up.

England and Wales was affected by a rapid succession of depressions giving very unsettled weather. The most notable weather occurred on the Bank Holiday (which at the time was at the start of the month) with the arrival of a cold northerly airstream. The instability in the air mass resulted in severe thunderstorms in Sussex and a notable hailstorm hit Tunbridge Wells in Kent on the 6th where hail accumulated to between 1 and 4 feet (30–120 cm). Such was the cyclonic activity that parts of south-east England had thunder on 11 days in the month.

http://onlinelibrary.../wea.133.06/pdf

Long before my day then! Someone posted a map showing thunderstorm frequency over the UK from 1973 (I think) to 2000. Can't say i remember having that many.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: BRISTOL
  • Location: BRISTOL

Some very interesting posts here made good reading,Here is a few stories of my own

Years ago when i was a kid i was absolutly petrified of thunderstorms especially at night for me it was ten times worse,When a storm hit at night i would go and sit outside my parents bedroom door so i could see them it gave me a little bit of comfort but would still shake with fear,When i hit my teens i was still scared of storms and when we got one i would go and stay in my sisters room,she would talk to me to take my mind off what was going on outside,I remember one year we had a big storm and we were sat chatting when all of a sudden there was this almighty roaring noise the same kind of noise a jet plane makes when it shoots over your house followed by a massive bang,I had never been so frightened in my life,The following morning i discovered that my neigbours electric box had been hit by lightning there were even burn marks on the fence.

A few years later we had a afternoon storm and i was sat in the kitchen with my mum,she said i shouldn't be scared of thunderstorms and to get me out of it we should play a game with it,I was like are you mad but listened to her and decided i would take part,The game was when there was a flash of lightning i had to run up the garden touch the fence and get back to the house before the thunder,i continued to play and i wasn't actually scared because i was having fun i forgot that i dont like storms,that was until there was a massive cg followed by shotgun thunder,i actually hit the deck with my hands on my head,My mum laughed at me and after a few minutes i found it funny and that was the day my fear of storms vanished,because of the game and the enjoyment of playing i couldn't wait for a storm so i could play it again,From this day i took a big interest in storms learning what causes them what lightning is what thunder is the development etc etc,So now thanks to my mum im a storm geek lol only trouble is i dont get any anymore cant remember the last storm we had been a few years.

Another storm experience i had was in Toronto Canada back in August of 2003,i was watching t.v when a severe weather warning was issued,i went out on the balcony of my room to observe the sky and could see distant lightning so stayed out,after about a hour the storm burst into life frequent cg's booming thunder,It was quite eerie though as the room over looked a large graveyard it was like something from a horror film,the storm lasted for a few hours giving me a experience i'll never forget,The next morning i went to get the paper and couldn't believe it,on the front of the Toronto Sun was a pic of a large fire and it read that it was caused by the storm,i have the paper somewhere so will try and post the pic at some point,The full story mentioned that the storm could of been a supercell so i looked into it and found out that it was,I was like wow i stood under a supercell thats awesome,Well there you have it a scary experience a fun experience and a awesome experience.

So now it's a waiting game and hopeing mother nature will deliver something here or maybe write to Jim will fix it lol

Cheers

Raidan

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Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

Good stories guys, :) most of them sound quite scary. Let's see what 2011 will bring us as it's been pretty good so far .:good:

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Posted
  • Location: West Bridgford, Nottingham
  • Location: West Bridgford, Nottingham

This is what I'm talking about!! Not had one like this for a while (though Aug 08 was probably on par)

Will set up a separate thread for this vid as its up there with the best of any UK storms I've seen caught on camera!

Great videos you have put on here. Fingers crossed for 2011.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Beverley, E Yorks, 19m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunder - not necessarily at the same time!
  • Location: Beverley, E Yorks, 19m ASL

Best storm I have ever exerienced (and the longest) was way back when, probably between 1970 and 1974. I would love to know the date of it so I could look up the maps etc. beacuse it was so incredible. maybe (and this is a long-shot!) someone on here will be able to put a date to it.

Anyway onto the story...... It was a hot sunny day and I was sitting on the beach, Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, when I remember my father and the father of my best friend discussing the rumbling noise they could hear and whether it was the Altlantic breakers or distant thunder. My dad was adamant that it was thunder whereas my friend's dad believed it was the breakers. As there wasn't a cloud in the sky, I had in a child-like manner decided that my father was wrong. As the day wore on, my best fronmd and I went off rock-pooling and after an indeterminate length of time, I looked out to sea (due West) and the entire horizon was black! Watching I could see the lightning and I remember to this day that there were three strikes per second, I counted them. At this point I called my friend and we stood in amazement at this spectacle then, we looked over towards our parents, at least 500m away, who were frantically waving at us - there was no-one else on the beach by this time. We made our way back to our families as fast as we could but the rock pools lie across your path and it took a long time and all the while it was getting darker and the thunder was getting louder. I remember clerarly being quite scared.

When we arrived back with our parents, they were all packed, and we made our way over the sand dunes to the small car park. As we reached the car park an enormous gust of wind arrived and blew the sand around everwhere. Everybody was screaming and you could not see a thing. This lasted a couple of minutes and it was very sore on the skin: in fact the paint on the cars in the car park was partly removed, showing the steel underneath. In addition my dad and my friend's dad, who had been carrying all the gear, reported that the wind had taken the deckchairs up into the sky, never to be seen again. By this time the thunder was deafening and everywhere to the west was black as night with constant lightning. we all piled into the cars and headed home, the ten miles due East to Pembroke.

Upon arrival in Pembroke half an hour or so later, the sun was still out, it was still warm and there was nothing that would indicate there was a storm approaching. However, I did know that the storm we had witnessed was moving East and would eventually arrive in Pembroke. Late in the afternoon it did and it lasted all night. I saw lightning the like of which I have never seen since - one bolt ran along the opposite hillside and struck a number of telegraph poles and trees. I remember three trees exploding as I watched! The thunder was deafening and continuous and no-one got any sleep at all. You could look out the window of the house and see everything as the lightning was more or less continuous.

The following morning, I went out to Pembroke Dock in the car with my father (I cannot remember why) but I still remember the strange clouds (Cumulus asperatus) and the fact that it was still raining and thundering, although by then it was just a rumble a minute or so, and there was lots of localised flooding.

It was this storm I believe that kindled my interest in severe weather: I was betwen eight and twelve, probably more like ten when this happened (1972/73) and have never gotten over this. One of the things I became aware of is, when you get summer storms in Pembroke, they almost always come form the SE, however, this one came from the west. In all the 28 years that I lived there, I can only remember one other occassion when a storm came from the west and that was 1984, when I worked in Milford Haven. Everyone of my age or older in Pembroke/Pembroke Dock remembers this storm but no-one knows the date.

Does anyone else have any memories of this storm or an approximate date at least?

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Posted
  • Location: The North Kent countryside
  • Weather Preferences: Hot summers, snowy winters and thunderstorms!
  • Location: The North Kent countryside

There's 2 more I can remember from camping and a caravan holiday:

We were on a family holiday to Devon in the caravan. The day had started off a scorcher. You could feel the burn on your skin as soon as you stepped out the door and there was a strong heat haze everywhere. Later in the day it went very very humid so much so your face was constantly clammy. As we spent the last few hours on the beach we saw big Cu building up followed by some serious anvils.

As the BBQ was coming to an end we felt spots of that hot rain coming down and we went inside. About 5 minutes later we all jumped out of our skins as the brightest flash and the biggest bang shook the caravan. Then the heavens opened and it didn't stop raining until about 10am the next day. It got hotter and hotter and hotter until we were sitting inside the caravan with the windows wide open to let out the humidity. The flashes were every second and lots of fork lightening and ground strikes as well as it crawling across the sky. The lightning was all different colours and the thunder was just constantly rolling. The power ent out on the site so we all just sat in darkness drinking tea and wine and beer (not the kids obviously!) and watched it until bedtime. We all fell asleep to the storm which died out for a few hours with flashes and rumbles every now and then and it picked up again around sunrise.

Another one was during my D of E expedition. We had just put the tent up. It had been a particularly hot or humid day and it didn't 'feel' like a storm was coming. We had finished dinner on the little travel stove. The anvils built up very quickly, literally within minutes. Then a dry storm started and we saw lightning in the distance and heard rumbles. It got close very quickly and all of a sudden a strike hit the tree in the same field as us and scared us all so we all (there was about 100 of us camping in that field) ran as fast as we could to the toilet block and reception which had an alcove we could all hide under. As we rain the rain started to fall and before we reached the block we were all soaked through. All we could do was just stand there shivering and sheltering until the storm passed. It struck the field we were in several times but luckily missed all the tents. It passed over very quick but was very intense.

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  • 2 months later...

It scares me bringing this memory back but I will tell you the story anyway..I am only 17 now...

It happened in the summer of 2008, I was out with my family which consists of (LOL) Mum, Step Dad, Me, Brother, Sister and baby brother. We went for a walk a long the river Bourne..The river is not a very big one and runs From a spring up north through Surrey and Chertsey and then I'm not sure where..

It was really good fun for the first hour..But the air felt muggy and very humid, we knew something was a bit wrong and it began to get cloudy and the wind picked up suddenly..Then I heard a crack of thunder and it started to rain..And boy did it rain, within about 5 minutes we were all completely sodden through and decided enough was enough and ran to the car..On the run back to the car we had to go down a road..Which by then was completely under water and the man holes had water pushing up through them...

We got in the car and a 5 minute drive home took about 30 minutes, as the roads where flooded and police directing people ETC..

Well..We went back a few weeks after only to find the river had risen by about 2-4 meters..And we would have been goners if we didn't get out of there when we did..I couldn't believe how high the water marks were on the trees when we went back..Scary scary stuff! Scared of being by that river when it rains now.

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  • 1 month later...
Posted
  • Location: Brongest,Wales
  • Weather Preferences: Stormy autumn, hot and sunny summer and thunderstorms all year round.
  • Location: Brongest,Wales

One day that I will never forget in terms of thunderstorms was on the 31st of August 2005. Here in Wiltshire on that day I can remember the mourning being very warm to hot and seeing a few scattered Altocumulus Floccus around in amongst sunny skies. Then past Midday it became cloudy and i can distinctly remember telling my mum about whether or not she thought there would be thunder as I was becoming annoyed with the forecast showing Northwest England being affected by some. And she said probably not.

It was only when I was whatching an episode of Stargate SG1 in the afternoon when I looked outside to the southwest and saw the most widest covouring of very dark based Altocumulus clouds was when I had a gut feeling that we were in for something. And sure enough from around 5:00pm onwards was there the most closest lightning I had ever seen. I can still actually remember me and my brother being quite frightened as we were young at the time seeing proper cloud-ground lightning strikes no more then about a mile away from our house.

The safety meter to the house wen't off a few times as well probably because of how close the lightning was.

Edited by wimblettben
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  • 1 month later...
Posted
  • Location: The North Kent countryside
  • Weather Preferences: Hot summers, snowy winters and thunderstorms!
  • Location: The North Kent countryside

I've remembered another one. I have kept thunderstorm diaries since I was 7 years as they have always fascinated me (I blame my parent's fascination!). I used to record the ones on holiday too. I dragged them out the other day.

It was August 1997 in Bulgaria. This was 2 weeks after a huge MCS had hit SE England and lasted all night, the account of which I have written earlier in this thread. We were in the mountains and at that time of year thunderstorms are common. We had opted to go on a walking tour that lasted half a day and we saw some great scebery and wildlife, including a few bears. Our guide was almost psychic, he was that good at telling the weather. We'd reached a peak of a mountain and he was surveying the horizon. It was quite obvious that in the distance a big storm was building, you could literally see the anvils rising and it looked bad.

He told us we had to make our way back quickly to the hotel as 'this is a big one'. He told us it would reach the hotel in about 30 minutes and if we went back now we'd get back just in time. We were all disappointed as we were enjoying the hike but he was adamant tis was not a safe storm to be in. We were all compliant and made a hurried return. I remember talking to him on the way down and he was saying up there storms can develop within minutes with no warning or indication whatsoever. When we were about 5 minutes from the hotel we could hear huge booms approaching. We got back to our hotel room and stood out on the balcony overlooking the mountains and sure enough to the exact minute the storm hit. First came a strong wind, then heavy rain and huge hail. Thunder boomed around the mountain valleys so loud we had to shout to be heard and lightning was forking everywhere and was non stop. There was a tower on one of the mountain peaks which was an observation tower as well as a transmission tower and it got hit several times. My Mum grabbed the camera and just clicked randomnly to try and get a photo. Somehow she did get one hitting this tower and I will try and find it.

The storm was so strong we could see tree branches breaking. We just stood on the balcony fascinated by this storm and glad we had got back in time. It carried on until dinnertime (about 3 hours) although the first half hour was the most intense. After the storm we walked outside and a few trees had fallen and branches were strewn all over the place. There were concerns for people who had been hiking in the mountains, but they had sheltered in a cafe at the top of the mountain.

It was very eerie afterwards, dead still. We crossed paths with our guide later that evening and he told us it was a supercell (in far more words than that) and we were very lucky to have got back in time. I don't think there was a tornado but there was definite rotation and the tree damage would suggest so as well as the hail and 'feel' of the storm. It was one of those times when the enormity of the storm makes you feel so insignificant.

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  • 8 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Ipswich. (Originally from York)
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder Storms. All extreme weather.
  • Location: Ipswich. (Originally from York)

Can you remember the day, date, month or year of the best storms you ever experienced. Where you were, what were you doing and did you 'feel' that something was about to happen; or did it creep up on you unawares?

Was it being caught out in a 'big one' that helped you get over a possible fear of storms or stirred your interest in them. I'd really love to know as I remember lots of dates of storms from way back.

2/3 September 1961

24th September 1969

30th May 1969

17th July 1975

And loads more.

So, what were your best storm days?

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Posted
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex
  • Weather Preferences: As long as it's not North Sea muck, I'll cope.
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex

I can't be exactly specific with dates, but two that stand out were.

Firstly, on the bank holiday in August '76, which broke the drought. Extremely heavy rain, with two unbelievably loud cracks of thunder - obviously right overhead. I was only 8 years old then though. We had plenty of notice of this, looking out to sea, as the sky became ominously dark on the horizon.

Another one was on (I think) 9th August 1999, (20% chance it was the 10th) - I can only be reasonably specific about this because I was about to head to the southwest for the Solar Eclipse. Again an extremely heavy, but quite local, storm over the Highwoods area of Colchester, where I lived at the time. I managed to film some of this, which I'll hopefully post here soon. Lots of instantaneous flash / bangs and extremely heavy rain, which turned the whole of my road into a river, as the drains couldn't cope. Luckily it only lasted for half an hour, but I'd estimate it locally dumped a couple of inches of rain.

I can remember a whole load more from early childhood, to almost now, but can be far less specific on dates, than even those above.

The first ones were when I lived in Brightlingsea, at infant school age. I remember myself, Mum and my brother racing back to beat a big black cloud growling with thunder. We just managed it. There were three separate storms that day.

Sat in class, when I was 6, watching rain pouring down and then reading about a 'freak storm' causing flooding in Colchester. No idea of the date, but know which class I sat in, so know my age.

A night of thunder in 1975, by which time I'd moved to Great Bentley. No idea of the date, but it would have been in the hot spell, so likely August.

A day pre the heatwave of 1976, when a large storm, with hail, knocked over our pet rabbit's hutch. That rabbit ended up in my neighbours' stewpot - don't ask!blink.png

A day with five separate storms in the summer of 1978. I remember close thunder causing several kids to dive beneath their classroom desks!

Another night of thunder late in the 1970's, when more than 2 inches of rain fell in Clacton.

A storm in the early to mid 1980's which while not really memorable in itself, had a couple of lightning strikes on houses in my road. I remember seeing scorch marks in the bathroom of a bungalow opposite - on the internal walls!ohmy.png

Another one in the late 1980's which had constant lightning for 3/4 hour, therefore just topping up the continuous thunder.

Another in the late 1990's / 2000 which dropped a funnel cloud 100M from me when I was driving home.

I should have kept a diary...

Nothing really memorable recently unfortunately, apart from when I've been abroad.

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Posted
  • Location: Kings Norton, West Midlands
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms, Cold & Snowy
  • Location: Kings Norton, West Midlands

15th June 2009, dropped 4 inches of hail quarter a mile away, my town got nothing, not even a single drop of rain, that itself is extraordinary...not forgetting to mention the tornado that formed above me :)

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Posted
  • Location: Ipswich. (Originally from York)
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder Storms. All extreme weather.
  • Location: Ipswich. (Originally from York)

This is great, just the kind of thing I love to read. Keep em coming. I kept storm diaries from 1991 until 2000 but I lost them when I moved from York. :(

@Steve. Poor bunny. What a way to end up. Your neighbour wasn't a bunny boiler was she with a huge crush on you? :D

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