Thunderstorm Stories

[Stormyking]

Here is my 2nd story of a big thunderstorm, Tornado, Big hail and crazy rainfall in September 2008.

12th September 2008: The Day had started off on a warm and humid note, felt very pleasant on the way to school that morning, anyway as the morning went on some AcCas was already showing and some pretty strong convection about. I don't remember Thunderstorms being forecast for this day, by about 11 it felt very warm and humid with no wind at all, the sun was really helping the convection growing more and more. About 12pm had just finished lesson and then had to go to assembly and was currently under a small light shower, but to my North, North west and West there were huge CB'S but didn't think it was going to thunder. During assembly after 30 to 45 minutes into assembly, I heard rumbling outside but thought it was a plain or someone moving stuff outside, 2 minutes later heard it again and then I became suspicious of to whether it was thunder or not, then happened again and then teachers kept looking up at the sky as doors was open even though the guy was still talking at front. My mate kept looking at me with a confused looking face, I looked at the little window to my left and it looked a little dark, as it happened a 4th time I then thought nothing else in my head and wispered to my mate it's Thundering. It was coming over at the right time as i only had 2 minutes left of the assembly and I was getting very impatient and could not stop looking outside.

finally the assembly finished for lunch and lunch was about an hour but I knew it was going to be a long, loud and wet lunch. As we was walking down I looked to my West, North west and South west and you could see this enormous rain curtain coming right towards us, then walked along the path to the bit we hang out and then a huge crack of thunder as we was walking down and everyone looked up and was like UH OH. My other mate who is one of my best mates he loves storms too, he came to me and said did you the Thunder and I said yup and said have you seen what's coming towards us, this is going to be a big one. We saw something very weird, about 10 feet to our right it was peeing down with rain and we was bone dry still and everyone round the area was like LOOK AT THIS IT'S RAINING LIKE JUST THERE!! Was getting very dark and then about 10 seconds later a bolt of Lightning hit Just in the school fields and then everyone was like right there's the Lightning we are going inside, but not me and my mate and we were you thinking what Im thinking go into the field to go and watch even though getting soaked. Then started to rain and the rain spots was enormous and then absolute let rip and rain was coming down stupidly heavy probably the heaviest I have ever seen. The Thunder and Lightning was starting to get frequent about every 5-10 seconds and was very loud, while my mate was looking to the North west, I looked to the South West and noticed some rotation and was like mate look at that, we then both saw a funnel forming and it was rather big and came down very far but as it came so far down there were reports that it had touched down, as we was watching it a beautiful purple CG hit just in front of it. After another 5 mins we decided to find cover as everywhere was starting to flood and rain was just getting heavier and heavier and we was soaked to the bone.

So as we started to go towards some cover, some Hail was starting to fall with it and became heavy but the Hailstones were huge, size of big marbles and am not Joking either and they hurt, We had absolutely everything being thrown at us and Thunder and Lightning was still banging away with loads of CG Lightning still. This storm had the exact same characteristics as a super cell and have been wondering for a long time if it was a super cell, anyway a lot of people was just walking out of school because everyone was completely soaked and cold but me and other friend's stayed, but as the Storm took me and my mate into another world, we ended up 30 mins late but it was well worth it and had felt so happy. The back of the storm looked amazing with Huge anvil and some big Mammatus with it and saw the last CG which made me very happy.

This Storm still dose not beat the July 2006 but this is my 2nd favourite storm I ever seen though

Hope you enjoy reading it

[MP-R]

Trying to choose from the best memories is a hard one. But here is my list, there's been at least one each year:

May 27th 1999: I was young at the time, in the days when bedtime was 9pm but that didn't last long that evening as a tremendous thunderstorm started half an hour later and went on until the early hours of the morning. I switched the lights off in my room and opened the skylight window slightly to watch the lightning start and the thunder was amazing, a pealing sound that deepened into a grumble then a bang before tailing off again. The rain started at about 10pm, at first light then the heavens opened and it seemed to go on for ages - like in the Tropics. I wasn't recording at that stage obviously but the following morning, we found a section of gutter on the other side of the drive.

July 04th 2001: The end of the heatwave went out with a bang. It was supposed to be the school's Sports Day but was cancelled for obvious reasons. The first thunderstorm came through at 05:00-06:00, with not much rain but impressive lightning displays to the west. The second one however at 07:30-09:30 was much heavier with absolutely collosal rain that flooded our street in no time and the traffic into Bristol was terrible. Thunder and lightning were frequent on this one and the weight of the rain brought down smaller ends of tree branches. By 11:00 however, they had cleared northwards and it again became warm and humid.

August 09th 2002: I was in Oxford doing a sailing course on the reservoirs there. It had been a nice morning but the sky became increasingly dark and grey to black after lunchtime. This was before I knew the science of storms but with bright blue and white sky to the north and west and black sky to the south and east, a sort of whale's mouth started to develop and the sky took on a green tint. There were some awesome CG and CC strikes. I was still on the reservoir though and was getting quite apprehensive as the wind was taking me the wrong way. The thunder gradually grew louder and the wind gustier with the sail rocking backwards and forwards. Eventually everyone on the reservoir got help being dragged back to the shore and the storm became unimpressive and just wet with rumbles but what a scary front edge to the storm.

January 28th 2004: The first ever thundersnow I had experienced personally. I was utterly surprised and amazed at the whole thing. Being at school, me and my friends were both stupidly exciting that it was snowing very heavily and settling straight away but I was jumping up and down at the thunder and lightning. Thunder in winter sounds very different to summer and the thunder during the storm was shorter and very crashy and much louder than anything in summer. It moved south quickly though with lightning displays behind it.

August 16th 2004: The day of Boscastle. This thunderstorm was actually unimpressive compared to many but the front edge of the storm looked like the permanent sky over Mordor in Lord of the Rings - jet black. I will also never forget how close a lightning strike came to a plane flying into Bristol Airport.

Summer 2005: This was the best summer for thunderstorms I have ever experienced with thunderstorms on May 21st/22nd , June 24th/28th , July 04th , August 25th/31st , September 10th. The best ones however in June. There must have been about 10 thunderstorms on the 24th starting at 4am which woke me up no problem but was a dry storm with lots of lightning. Then the 28th was increedibly intense with rain like I haven't seen since - almost as if someone just dropped the ocean through a giant sieve. It wasn't a long storm but 18mm fell in 45 minutes.

May 10th 2006: Totally unexpected, not forecast at all. It was sunny and warm all day with a high of 24C. At about 5pm, I heard rumbles behind the house but couldn't visibly see anything when I looked. Then the sky really started to turn greyer and blacker after 6pm with visible lightning and the first spots of rain. There were several window-rattling bangs of rain then the hail that followed was something else. If it weren't for the fact the ground had been so warm before, the hail could easily have settled given the intensity and longevity of the downpour. Thunder and lightning then continued from 7pm through to at least 3am - possibly the longest storm I've ever witnessed.

June 19th 2007: Not the best year for actual thunderstorms but this day sticks out in my memory. It was another evening one but the cloud formation on the front of the storm were fantastic, I almost felt like I was on a storm chase in the USA with rotation and curling of cloud a plenty. We then drove through the storm, having to almost stop on the dual carriageway because the windscreen wipers had no effect whatsoever. Driving out the other side, we saw what it had caused. Everyone was driving at about 5mph and the rest of the journey was like driving through a neverending ford.

May 09th 2008: This is perhaps one of the only storms I've remembered without being in it. There were fantastic lightning displays over Bristol and being just south meant I could watch it whilst staying dry (always the best way to watch T-storms). This was also the first time I saw an anvil crawler. The display went on and on and some of my friends under it in Bristol said it was one of the best storms they had ever seen. The next thunderstorm brought the intense rain but less electrical activity. An unusual thing about this day was the ordinary day that it had been, no signs of thundery activity even at 5pm then it all kicked off after dark.

Last year was appalling for thunderstorms, with only the odd rumble within a heavy downpour. Let's hope this year creates another memory.

[Wilxy]

9th May 2008:

Well this day started of dry and warm, and by afternoon it became increasingly warm and humid and by evening it was at the point where i started to feel very uncomfortable and noticed how thundery it felt. I looked around and noticed increasing convection to the E and SE and became clear that it was a storm as i heard distant thunder quite alot and got closer and closer until it was right above with powercuts and flash flooding it soon passed through and became calm before a more active storm aproched from the same direction and saw many flashes of lightening followed by some very loud and long lasting thunder, it was a storm that i will never forget and hopeing for more of the same this year maybe even on the 9th of may this year it could happen again :blush:

[BlueHedgehog074]

Cool, look forward to it.

I don't blame you for not wanting to forget about that storm, seeing as they can be rare.

The May 2005 Thunderstorm Story - It was a Saturday when my family and I decided to visit the Moretan Morrel Warwickshire College open day (about 20 miles to the South-East), where I would be studying Horticulture during the following September. I got into the car and peered out through the shiny window. Clouds dominated the sky and as we raced down the M40, I saw we were heading towards a shower which, although gave a splattering of rain, it did not have the characteristics of a thunderstorm. Within 5 minutes of reaching the College, the shower cleared like dirt being wiped off a window, to sunny spells. In my mind I thought, "Yes, it looks like it could be dry for the Open Day."

After exploring the place for three hours, I was happy to walk down the tall hill towards the Horticultural Unit. Then, by surprise, I saw a dark grey thing at the corner of my eyes as I walked down the big bump in the landscape and I could hear these "Grrrrrrrruuuuummmmmmbbbbbbblleeeee, grruuuummmmbbbbbleee" sounds.

It was then I realised we were in for a spot of thunder; in fact worse than that, there was a great big...

...sorry, I'm going to have to finish the story off later as it's time for me tea. To Be Continued (end of part 1)...

(Now for part 2)

The May 2005 Thunderstorm continued...

...flash in the distance, so I knew for sure this time that there was some "Fundery" weather approaching. Fundery, because although I was nervous and felt all jittery inside, I knew there was fun and excitement to be had as I saw the towering dark clouds get closer, and closer, and closer. And closer.

"KABOOM," there was another flash of lightning and the darkest bases of the Cumulonibus cloud were overhead. I could also see patches of Cumulonibus mamma upon the storms approach giving the sky a devilish appearance. Mum suggested that we should take shelter in Moreton Hall (part of the Campus), which was a 4 minute walk back up the hill. But as we trekked up the big bump, I saw a zig zagged white flash high up in the sky just below the cloud bases, with the thunder becoming louder. I started to panic. I was worried that we would get struck by lightning, we were only half-way to the building, and the thunder and lightning were becoming more frequent. There was a bit of a blowing wind, and I could see the main rain band of the storm closing in. And the sky looked full of precipitation, so we turned our walk to more of a jog as it looked as though it was going to hammer down with rain. With all our might, we tried to reach Moretan Hall without getting soaked.

But... it was too late, the rain had already began to full from the soggy sky, but it fell quite steadily and we reached Moreton Hall. In One Piece.

My panic was beginning to loose power, so I was happy to watch the rain falling from behind the big brown doors of Moretan Hall, while mum explored the place. Then, slowly, the rain began to get heavier until it became so heavy that large hailstones began to fall. In fact, the rain and hail and fell so heavily that it was bouncing off the cars like crazy and settling on the grass. I though to myself "oh man, it looks so pretty." Indeed it looked very wintry. Personally, I just love it when we get huge torrential downpours like this as the look of the blurry clouds, the way the precipitation falls, plus the "I wonder how long this will last for?" factor all add together to make a dazzling display to watch. Tis unfortunate for the poeple who have to drive in conditions like this, but admittedly it's hard not to like weather like this.

Anyway, because of the intensity of the hail, I watched the stormy weather from the window which allowed a great view to the storm. There were still some flashes of lightning from time to time, although were not quite as frequent with mostly heavy precipitation just falling, with a bit of a gusty wind too. For about 15 to 20 minutes the hail constantly hammered down, with some of it smacking hard against the shiny windows. A layer of hail settled on the grass and just when it looked like it there would be no end to the storm, I could see some brighter patches to the sky to the South-West and within 2 minutes the rain became much lighter in intensity. The main body of the storm passed to the North/North-East, and a speck of sunshine peeped through a small gap in the thundery clouds.

The funny part was that the sun had come out 5 mnutes before Open Day's closure time. I went home feeling proud I had experienced one of the most intense storms in a while, and would say it was one of my favourite storms I have come across.

I wonder if weather09 or other people in the region remember the storm, or had experienced this storm. I think it was the one on the 20th or 21st of May, which is probably the same one as Michael Prys-Roberts had.

9th May 2008:

Well this day started of dry and warm, and by afternoon it became increasingly warm and humid and by evening it was at the point where i started to feel very uncomfortable and noticed how thundery it felt. I looked around and noticed increasing convection to the E and SE and became clear that it was a storm as i heard distant thunder quite alot and got closer and closer until it was right above with powercuts and flash flooding it soon passed through and became calm before a more active storm aproched from the same direction and saw many flashes of lightening followed by some very loud and long lasting thunder, it was a storm that i will never forget and hopeing for more of the same this year maybe even on the 9th of may this year it could happen again

Two storms in one. Awesome.

Yeah, agreed, it would be super to see some powerful storms this year.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Rainbow Snow

[Stormyking]

Great to see your 2nd part of your story Rainbow Snow :blush:

It sounds like you had a cracking thunderstorm turning into a big Hailstorm ahh beutifull weather indeed love all the extremes cannot get enough of it.

here too is for a very active storm season for everyone

[BlueHedgehog074]

No problem. Apologies for the delay.

[Stormyking]

LOL, dont apologise hehe,Its cool man

sounds the midlands gets very good storms indeed:D

[Wilxy]

(Now for part 2)

The May 2005 Thunderstorm continued...

...flash in the distance, so I knew for sure this time that there was some "Fundery" weather approaching. Fundery, because although I was nervous and felt all jittery inside, I knew there was fun and excitement to be had as I saw the towering dark clouds get closer, and closer, and closer. And closer.

"KABOOM," there was another flash of lightning and the darkest bases of the Cumulonibus cloud were overhead. I could also see patches of Cumulonibus mamma upon the storms approach giving the sky a devilish appearance. Mum suggested that we should take shelter in Moreton Hall (part of the Campus), which was a 4 minute walk back up the hill. But as we trekked up the big bump, I saw a zig zagged white flash high up in the sky just below the cloud bases, with the thunder becoming louder. I started to panic. I was worried that we would get struck by lightning, we were only half-way to the building, and the thunder and lightning were becoming more frequent. There was a bit of a blowing wind, and I could see the main rain band of the storm closing in. And the sky looked full of precipitation, so we turned our walk to more of a jog as it looked as though it was going to hammer down with rain. With all our might, we tried to reach Moretan Hall without getting soaked.

But... it was too late, the rain had already began to full from the soggy sky, but it fell quite steadily and we reached Moreton Hall. In One Piece.

My panic was beginning to loose power, so I was happy to watch the rain falling from behind the big brown doors of Moretan Hall, while mum explored the place. Then, slowly, the rain began to get heavier until it became so heavy that large hailstones began to fall. In fact, the rain and hail and fell so heavily that it was bouncing off the cars like crazy and settling on the grass. I though to myself "oh man, it looks so pretty." Indeed it looked very wintry. Personally, I just love it when we get huge torrential downpours like this as the look of the blurry clouds, the way the precipitation falls, plus the "I wonder how long this will last for?" factor all add together to make a dazzling display to watch. Tis unfortunate for the poeple who have to drive in conditions like this, but admittedly it's hard not to like weather like this.

Anyway, because of the intensity of the hail, I watched the stormy weather from the window which allowed a great view to the storm. There were still some flashes of lightning from time to time, although were not quite as frequent with mostly heavy precipitation just falling, with a bit of a gusty wind too. For about 15 to 20 minutes the hail constantly hammered down, with some of it smacking hard against the shiny windows. A layer of hail settled on the grass and just when it looked like it there would be no end to the storm, I could see some brighter patches to the sky to the South-West and within 2 minutes the rain became much lighter in intensity. The main body of the storm passed to the North/North-East, and a speck of sunshine peeped through a small gap in the thundery clouds.

The funny part was that the sun had come out 5 mnutes before Open Day's closure time. I went home feeling proud I had experienced one of the most intense storms in a while, and would say it was one of my favourite storms I have come across.

I wonder if weather09 or other people in the region remember the storm, or had experienced this storm. I think it was the one on the 20th or 21st of May, which is probably the same one as Michael Prys-Roberts had.

Two storms in one. Awesome.

Yeah, agreed, it would be super to see some powerful storms this year.

Nice, how i love storms and it would be great to see widespread storm events this year instead of some places missing out.

[BlueHedgehog074]

It sure was.

Not too sure if I remember that storm, although I think I partly remember a storm in 2001 (or perhaps 2002), which had some large hail to it, almost similar to the one in May 2005. Except the May one had quite a dark look to the storm on its edge.

(lol). There's so many storms/thundery weather to remember, but will let you know if any thing else about the storms pop up into my head, because the downpour you've mentioned does sound like a reamrkable storm, too. (And probably could have been the storm during May 2005).

[Wilxy]

2 years ago today was a great storm that hit bristol on the evening of the 9th may 2008 never forget how close lightning was here. To bad that its not the right sort of weather for it to happen again today

Edited May 9, 2010 by weathercoxy

[Stormyking]

2 years ago today was a great storm that hit bristol on the evening of the 9th may 2008 never forget how close lightning was here. To bad that its not the right sort of weather for it to happen again today

Yes Tom it is, you been talking about this for ages and it sounded like a cracking storm Unfortuenatly looks like we are going to have to wait quite a warm for big storms at the moment.

[Harry]

Without question the best storms I've ever seen were those on Tour 1 - back home now in the cold and dreary skies and looking forward to sleep tonight.

Here's a few of my fave pics from the chases - bear in mind Tour 1 was relatively quiet, we nevertheless saw tornadoes and amazing supercells and squall lines!

The best UK storms for me are strong MCS', as they give out hours of awesome thunder and lightning. Thing is, they aren't really all that when you've seen what a supercell, or even a weak US squall line can do.

[Harry]

Fantastic pictures there Harry! The last three are really something else, though! Really amazing photos!

Can't compare the U.K to the U.S in terms of convective storms as I've never been storm chasing across the plains, however I still think that, given the right set-up, the U.K can experience some pretty violent or decent severe thunderstorms. They will never come close to the ones that form across the plains, but can still be awesome storms in their own right.

Cheers Weather 09! :blush:

I agree, some of our storms really are beautiful in their own right, and as I said to Paul S on the tour, for example, I hadn't heard thunder on Tour 1 which beat thunder I'd heard in the UK. But regrettably, we just don't get the real decent supercells which IMO are the most beautiful.

Furthermore, now I've got a decent camera and know how to use it better, I might be able to capture some decent shots of our own storms, and then be able to see how they compare. Problem with our storms is that they tend to be relatively short lived and high precip, which isn't great for photographing. I am hopeful we might get some better storms this year, though not expecting a lot in the next week or so as we are kept in control by a wintry trough followed by a ridge! Like the fact the ridge appears to extend in from the South with some fairly warm air attached - if brushes east we may, just may, be provided with our first plume event of 2010 and a source of moisture to enable hopefully widespread thundery activity

[Mesoscale]

I really want to go on one of the netweather storm chases i have the money its just college is getting in the way as i dont finish untill late june this year and probably in july next year. I may get too excited whilst im out there though!

Those are some really decent pictures i love number 6 with the stars i hope you really enjoyed it, i live in the south east and recently we haven't been getting all that much lightning even though we are supposed to have the uks highest lightning strike rate per sq mile, last year we had one decent storm but before that the last decent storm was in 2006 that i can remember.

We had some pretty decent sized hail on june 27th or the 29th 2009 i cant remember which day it was. Anyone know where i can get cape, li and satelite imagery from those days?

Id have to say the majority of lightning here happens after dark, between 2 and 5am. not sure if those are spanish plume events though.

[joggs]

Just thought id add the best storm ive ever witnessed. In 1998 i went to Florida with my then girlfriend, we stayed at the Grovsner hotel just inside Disney resort near downtown Disney. It was in the 2nd week of the hol(1st week August) and we were just chilling at side of the pool. Around about 3ish in the afternoon we heard distant rumbles of thunder and it grew darker to our west. We decided to head off back to our room, and as soon as we entered the t.v. started a loud buzzing tone(Ididnt know at the time, it were a warning for violent t/storms/tornado alert!) Anyway the storm grew and grew (By this time i had the

weather channel on) and we were been warned to take cover in the bathroom

When the storm hit the rain/hail was just like fog and the wind was so strong the windows wrer shaking, by this time i was at the windows whilst getting screamed at by the GF. Anyway there were no reports of tornados thankfully, but after the storm we had a walk round an trees were uprooted, cars on there sides and olot of damage. We got speaking to locals and they confirmed what the weathermen said ''its been the worst storm in 25 years''

What made it more special was the fact that we watched all the reports/live commenary(our hotel was on the news channel! etc) whilst laying on bed and eating buffalo wings, mashed potato and gravy!!!

Im sure you,ll be able to look it up somewhere!

[Stormyking]

Without question the best storms I've ever seen were those on Tour 1 - back home now in the cold and dreary skies and looking forward to sleep tonight.

Here's a few of my fave pics from the chases - bear in mind Tour 1 was relatively quiet, we nevertheless saw tornadoes and amazing supercells and squall lines!

The best UK storms for me are strong MCS', as they give out hours of awesome thunder and lightning. Thing is, they aren't really all that when you've seen what a supercell, or even a weak US squall line can do.

Thankyou for sharing these, they are unbelievable and are amazing especially that Tornadic one

Just thought id add the best storm ive ever witnessed. In 1998 i went to Florida with my then girlfriend, we stayed at the Grovsner hotel just inside Disney resort near downtown Disney. It was in the 2nd week of the hol(1st week August) and we were just chilling at side of the pool. Around about 3ish in the afternoon we heard distant rumbles of thunder and it grew darker to our west. We decided to head off back to our room, and as soon as we entered the t.v. started a loud buzzing tone(Ididnt know at the time, it were a warning for violent t/storms/tornado alert!) Anyway the storm grew and grew (By this time i had the

weather channel on) and we were been warned to take cover in the bathroom

When the storm hit the rain/hail was just like fog and the wind was so strong the windows wrer shaking, by this time i was at the windows whilst getting screamed at by the GF. Anyway there were no reports of tornados thankfully, but after the storm we had a walk round an trees were uprooted, cars on there sides and olot of damage. We got speaking to locals and they confirmed what the weathermen said ''its been the worst storm in 25 years''

What made it more special was the fact that we watched all the reports/live commenary(our hotel was on the news channel! etc) whilst laying on bed and eating buffalo wings, mashed potato and gravy!!!

Im sure you,ll be able to look it up somewhere!

Hi there Joggs

I bet that must of put a smile on your face knowing that you witnessed the worst storm fro 25 years of where you was at the right time, sounds very Impressive, was there much thunder and lightning with this storm along with the rain and hail?

[joggs]

Thankyou for sharing these, they are unbelievable and are amazing especially that Tornadic one

Hi there Joggs

I bet that must of put a smile on your face knowing that you witnessed the worst storm fro 25 years of where you was at the right time, sounds very Impressive, was there much thunder and lightning with this storm along with the rain and hail?

Sorry SK forgot to state there was alot of v loud thunder but you couldnt make out the lightening because the rain/hail was so dense, if that makes sense. The thing that stuck in my mind the most was the wind/rain/hail which lasted for about an hour, very severe it was too. Certainly the heaviest ive ever or likely to witness. We were on the 2nd floor and the rain was just flooding under the door off the balcony. The hail was probably ping pong ball size and smaller.