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Your Thunderstorm memories (scary or exciting!)


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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 110m
  • Location: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 110m

Being only 17, there’s not too many good storms that I can remember (it sure seems like there has been a lot less activity over the past 4/5 years!!) anyway the one storm that comes to mind for me is one that must have occurred around June/July 2005, i remember standing on the playing field with my mates and watching this huge dark cloud approaching and then eventually running home when it finally reached us.

The storm produced constant, and i mean constant lightening and loud thunder for around 2 hours, directly overhead, however there was only a slight bit of rain and no hail or strong winds.

The only other event that sticks in my mind was when my school was struck by a one off CG in September 2007, no thunder or rain again, just a bolt out of the blue, it was a rather cool event to happen for me at the age of 12 and is probably the main thing that got me interested in storms all together.

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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

Seems like so many of us have the Summer 1999 storm stick in our brains. Must have been a big one.

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Posted
  • Location: Belper, Derbyshire
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms
  • Location: Belper, Derbyshire

Aside from the big storms I remember from my childhood and teenage years when I remember several overnight storms with lightning and staying up watching them with my mum and dad, these are the top 5 of good storms I have seen whilst storm chasing.

5) 23rd August 2006 - Region: Worcester - Me and my mate had gone out storm chasing and I had taken myself and him down to Worcester as I saw this as the best area to see a storm. Late afternoon time we got a call from his girlfriend to say there was a storm back at home (albeit just a small one) but there was nothing where I was. However, we decided to stay put and a cell developed to the SW and moved over around 8pm. There was almost constant flashes and thunder as it approached with visible rotation. As it came overhead it dropped many powerful CG's with some really close. Got one of my closest ever CG's on video from this storm and for him it was scary... for me it was just plain awesome :)

4) 10th May 2006 - Region: Wiltshire - I had finished work early and knew from the forecasts that something special would happen. My target area was actually further south but a storm had erupted to the east and was heading west so I hung around Cirencester for it to arrive. As it approached it got very dark and I was then treated to a fantastic lightning display. As I was driving I witnessed a huge bolt of lightning hit a tree and you could see the splinters of wood from the impact. This storm continued into the night and produced further awesome strobe lightning as it headed off towards Wales.

3) 5th August 2012 - Region: Yorkshire - What made this storm special was the fact I saw just about everything in one day whilst covering around 300 miles driving around Yorkshire. It started with a beautiful funnel cloud near to Wetherby which ended up being one of many that were seen by other observers on this date. There were then waves of thunderstorms through the afternoon. One brought pea sized hail that I saw in Harrogate and then torrential rain and almost constant thunder over Catterick Garrison - which led to flooding of the town. Another then produced a good lightning display near to York in the evening. Although this brought only moderate rain it produced some of the most spectacular lightning bolts I had seen for a long time and an awesome shelf cloud.

2) 28th June 2012 - Region: Lincolnshire - I think everyone who is interested in storms (whether they got them or not) is aware of the awesome storms on this day. The shear intensity of the rain, the constant sheet lightning and the powerful winds with pea to marble sized hail made this the most intense storm I have ever witnessed. At one point the intensity of the rain and the winds were to the point of being scary and had motorists pulling into the side of the road and watching in awe at what I believe was a powerful RFD. There were some fantastic bolts observed whilst I was driving too and at one point is was incredibly dark... as if it were dusk in the middle of the afternoon.

1) 28th June 2006 - Region: Derby - Exactly six years before my number 2 storm came the best storm I have witnessed since I started actively following and chasing storms in 2004. It had been a hot day and distant rumbles started at around 7pm. It took an hour for the storm to reach but as it approached there were numerous distant CGs. When it finally did arrive it produced lots of lightning with some spectacular bolts and thunder that shook the house. The thing that makes this storm my best ever is it was like a "throwback" to my childhood days as I watched it from my bedroom window and it just lasted on and on... I think it went on for about 3-4 hours with torrential rain and numerous bolts. Less violent than the storm I have in number 2 but more spectacular for the lightning, which is why it is my top storm.

There were then also great storms on the 20th October 2004 (Chesterfield), 31st August 2005 (Nottinghamshire), 26th July 2006 (Norfolk), 11th September 2006 (Derby) and one on (i think) 28th July 2009 (Luton) but I cannot remember the exact date.

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Posted
  • Location: Merthyr Tydfil
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and storms
  • Location: Merthyr Tydfil

The storm that stands out for me in this area was the storm of May 28th 1999.

I remember seeing the BBC forecast earlier in the evening when they showed the lightning map (remember that?). I remember thinking 'What the hell is brewing there?' Around 9pm I noticed frequent flashes to the south moving slowly towards my direction. While standing on the front doorstep, the storm approached with a huge CB looking like it was on fire with constant red glowing and streaks of fork lightning jumping between the cloud. I kept watching for about 10 minutes until a bolt landed about 200 yards away. This was a point at which I knew this storm was extreme and it would be too dangerous to be outside.

As I wandered back inside the electricity went out, but it didn't go dark due to the constant flashing of the lightning. The strikes were now around 3 per second and the rain was coming down in sheets. The thunder was constant. This lasted for about 20 minutes. By the time it cleared the road was a river.

Looking back I think this was a supercell as I had never witnessed anything like it before or anything since

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Carlisle, Cumbria
  • Weather Preferences: Atlantic storms, severe gales, blowing snow and frost :)
  • Location: Carlisle, Cumbria

What not to do during a tornado http://t.co/69US93gw

That could have ended much worse, hopefully we won't start experiencing tornadoes of that intensity here in Cumbria any time soon lol

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Posted
  • Location: Northwood. NW London. 68m asl
  • Location: Northwood. NW London. 68m asl

My memory is terrible for dates and events but the one storm that really sticks in my mind occurred in the London area sometime around the mid 2000's. Could have been 2005/2006 or 2007. Sorry for being so vague, hopefully someone can help me pinpoint it.

It was an absolute classic overnight plume event. I remember finishing work at Heathrow at 10pm, and driving round to a friends house in Pinner where I planned to spend the night. In the early hours of the morning I was woken up by the sound of torrential rain pounding on the roof, and the room was lit up by near constant lightning flashes.

The lightning was spectacular, covering the whole sky with brilliant flashes of cloud to cloud and cloud to ground, with booming thunder. The rain was monsoon like. About an hour into this storm ( which lasted for much of the night ) I was temporarily blinded by a flash of lightning which was accompanied by an immediate boom of shotgun thunder. It sounded like an explosion.

Every car alarm in the vicinty was set off, and I rushed outside expecting to see a scene of devastation. It really felt as though we had experienced a direct hit. Fortunately we hadn't, but the road was in full flood, swamping the front gardens and garages. That storm raged on for several more hours. A classic plume event.

BB

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