When was the last time you saw a cracking thunderstorm ?

[Eskimo]

Some time in 2006, constant flashes and shotgun thunder. 

[Summer of 95]

19th June 2005 the last really good storm here; hail and several hours of lightning in the afternoon after it touched on 30C- fantastic day. Last thunderstorm of any kind 21st Aug 2011.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

09 may '11, was a standard Atlantic setup but brought good storm, also 28th June '12, more of a plume setup

[Mark -W-s-M]

Last big thunderstorm i can remember was back in either 2000 or 2001  started around 9 in the evening and lasted right through the night till morning think that one was around the 4-5th July 00-01.

[Static Prevails]

A possible supercell in September 2006 or so. I seem to remember it dropping a tornado in my area, with quite a few trees falling on fences next door. There was constant lightning and torrential rain too.

Maybe we'll see one like it again.

[Nick F]

Probably have to go back to 2001 to recall a 'cracking' thunderstorm. Here's an account that I made in the old guide to thunderstorms in the UK:

 

The afternoon and evening of May 9th 2001 was overcast, grey and cool in SE England with stratus lapping off the North Sea in a cool ENE airstream. However, to the South over France a warm and moist plume was steadily being advected Northwards. As warm air met with the cool air that had been feeding in from the NE at the surface over the Dover Straits and SW North Sea, the warm moist air was forced to rise and rapidly built into towering cumulonimbus cells around Calais in the late evening. Further cells then rapidly multiplied NW across SE England around midnight with warm air continuing to be forced aloft by cooler air flowing in from the N Sea at the surface. These cells produce spectacular lightning displays and merged to form an MCS which practically engulfed the SE corner. As the storms cleared NW, instead of the air becoming fresher, the air turned more humid, and the following day saw a sticky 25C reached compared to the cool day previous. The funny thing was, the Met Office forecasters were rather caught out and left with red faces as they had predicted a small chance of some thundery showers for the South that evening. They didn't foresee a rapid explosion of severe thunderstorms and blamed it on cool air from the North Sea colliding with warm air off the continent.

 

 

[Azores Hi]

Thanks for that Nick, I remember that and it's good to finally put a date to it. I was out in Tenterden with my wife's family that night and I remember it being quite cool with light rain when we went in to the restaurant. By the time we left the storm had come and we dashed to the car, the drive home was a bit interesting with flash floods and monsoon type rain. Got home and the lightning was really kicking off by then, it was probably one of the scariest storms Ive been in, top 3 anyway! Just with the shear number of strikes and constant booming thunder.

 But nothing compares to the Great Kent Supercell. July 2007? I remember you missed that one, being up north somewhere!

Edited July 19, 2013 by Azores Hi

[Nick F]

But nothing compares to the Great Kent Supercell. July 2007? I remember you missed that one, being up north somewhere!

 

I was probably at my brother's wedding in Scotland at the time, sod's law, I was living in Kent too - so would have chased it otherwise.

 

The 9th May 2001 was certainly one of the most memorable storms I've witnessed in the UK - just for the shear frequency of thunder and lightning, Before that I remember some good ones in the 1994  and 1995  summers in Kent and before then I seem to remember sometime in June 1989 having a memorable all-nighter MCS one night.

[Costa Del Fal]

El Brumo last year but I actually got to experience El Kernow in Falmouth around the 8th June this year. Cracking 2 hour intense storm but the lightning was about for 6 or so hours. Intense rain and some of the most incredible thunder. Arguably it was the most severe storm in the UK for 2013 so far.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Blizzards

[Boro Snow]

Last June was awesome I've seen thunderstorms in Florida and other countries but nothing compared to that June afternoon last year it was just incredible, my road was a river within a few mins, lets hope we see something nxt week

[Severe Blizzard]

Sunday 22nd June 2003 was good - Saturday 29th May 1999 was excellent but sadly too short. In latter case, a friend reported ball lightning in her living room - we were only talking about it this morning funnily enough.

Some thunder events since but no close discharges in Guildford since the two listed above. Last reasonable storm was on 7th July 2009. Dates a long ago highlighting how dreadful the lack of any decent storms has been in Guildford and the vicinity in recent and not so recent years.

[Buzzard]

My big 2 below....

 

1. Ibiza 1996 - Non stop lightning and a constant roar of thunder for 3 hours! - all lights out and just bottled beer LOL! And a tornado! (Bit of detail below!!)

 

In spite of the limited period considered, the overall tornado occurrence relative to the area seems to be as high as in Oklahoma or Texas (Grazulis et al., 1993), and much higher than in other Mediterranean countries (Dessens and Snow, 1993). Fortunately, however, there have been no fatalities, but damages can occasionally reach several millions U.S. dollars, as on 12 September 1996 when the outbreak "O" case affected touristic and industrial zones. This episode is also noteworthy because during its final stage on 12 September, a small cyclone with tropical characteristics developed near Ibiza and crossed Mallorca (Gili et al,. 1997). SRH and CAPE for this case (Fig. 9a) are both quite appreciable.

 

2. Bmth (from BBC site) - remember trying to watch 'return of the Jedi' at the cinema but the hailstones were too loud!

 

On 5 June 1983 a series of violent thunderstorms swept eastwards from Lyme Bay across Weymouth, Poole, and Bournemouth, and on into Hampshire and Sussex. They were accompanied by torrential rain (74mm fell at Winfrith) and heavy hail with stones the size of golf balls (43mm) in the Poole and Bournemouth areas, with one stone measured at 65mm across

 

Been downhill ever since!!

[I Cumbria Marra I]

never seen one lol

[Thundery wintry showers]

18th July 2012 in Norwich for me, fittingly timed because it was the day that I graduated with my Meteorology PhD.  There were some impressive cells around Peterborough which slowly fizzled as they headed towards Norwich but then a cell sprouted up on its southern flank and caught Norwich head-on, with an impressive shelf cloud, torrential rain which caused short-lived flooding around the UEA campus, and lightning at a rate of several strikes per minute for a while, some of which I caught using my camera's video mode.  It largely made up for missing out on the 28th June 2012 event by moving away from South Tyneside six days earlier (I did have a weak thunderstorm in Sandhutton that day, but nothing particularly amazing).

[Tamara]

It would have to be the one mentioned above in July 2007 because I was in the thick of it ..although 'cracking' isn't a term I would use for it these days.

[Norfolk Sheep]

Last actual storm was 5th Aug 2012, when a very photogenic storm developed SW of here - I had gone out to take some sunset pictures and ended up hurtling back home to grab my OH. It wasn't hugely active but watching lightning against sunset streaked clouds was magnificent!

 The last really intense storm was in July 2009 during the day, the day after there was supposed to be some serious action! Non stop thunder and lightning for over an hour. nothing that made me bounce off the ceiling though, for that I'd have to go back to 1977 and the USA in August, when Hurricane Babe spawned some really violent storms across Virginia. Seeing lightning strike the ground between the car and the entrance to a country club we were about to have lunch at was interesting to say the least.....

 

 

August 2012

[johnholmes]

Two days ago, frequent cloud to ground lightning and cracks, very loud, rather thanr rumbles. Mind you it was 6000ft up in the Swiss mountains. The next morning sunny and clear. Did that 4 days on the trot. Perhaps the ideal for heat and storms and also not that humid other than in the valleys.

[Dan the Man]

Flew into Sanford Airport in Florida back in August 2001. Our flight landed approx 3pm local time; looking over the back of the airport you could already see the convection building. Within an hour, the sky had gone pitch black and we had the best fireworks show I've ever seen. Surrounded by about 2 or 3 separate cells blasting out fork lightning every few seconds for several hours. Torrential downpours made driving almost impossible.

 

I was in Atlanta during the deadly tornado outbreak in April 2011. I kept well away from 'the action', but driving upstate a day after a big storm, you could tell where the cell had hit.

[cheese]

15 May 2009 in Leeds was really, really great.

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2013 by cheese

[laserguy]

On a Hammer horror movie  - it was that bad it woke up Dracula. Can't remember the last real one. Had a few pathetic attempts yesterday...

[Nath]

Last time I saw a "cracking" thunderstorm was 35 years ago. (when I was 10 yrs old)  I remember lightning striking every second for 2-3 hours from 3pm, flood water 1-2 ft deep outside my house, and the high road was like a raging river (my dad took me out to see it!!). 

Maybe it was just a once in a lifetime event!!

[Scarf-Carrot-Coal]

Er, yesterday afternoon, Sat 12 Oct.  It came up from the south and we had a good storm with hail.  I am on the Canterbury Plains on the South Island in NZ.

[Carl46Wrexham]

12 years 3 months ago.

[The PIT]

Many years ago probably 90's. Been plenty of near misses though.

Edited October 21, 2013 by The PIT

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Wildwood, Stafford, on the 20th 0ct '13, last time I saw one probably 02 Aug this year