J-Me

Looking towards Dungeness and Ashford it can only be described as being like a strobe light - its pretty incredible. Theres not a great deal of thunder and the wind is hot, hotter than it felt an hour ago it seems.

That was quite an unexpected noisy wake up call here in Folkestone. Slightly unusual in that we had a good 15 minutes of constant thunder from 7:50 onwards. Would have been far better in the dark as I really couldn't see a great deal of lightning.

A couple of loud rumbles of Thunder here in Folkestone; didn't see the first flash as I wasn't expecting it but saw the second through closed curtains. Didn't know there was any potential for this today. EDIT:- tremendous CG strike to the North West of me with the sky lighting up all around with booming thunder. I think its hailstones now by the sound on the window

I sympathize fully - I jumped out of mine too I think the problem was it was a very weak and somewhat quiet storm; there were a few flashes and growls but not much else which lured me in to a false sense of security. Then I just happened to look out the window as the sky lit up followed by instant thunder that made the ground shake; I was not prepared for that at all - that wasn't fair! That was the last I saw and heard before it all went quiet bar the rain which up until about 15 minutes ago was torrential - your observations don't surprise me.

Oh my god - just had the loudest, most instant crack of thunder from any storm we've had this year. I think I almost soiled myself.

Another flash and now thunder - I'd imagine you're close enough to have heard that

Just saw a (my first tonight) very big flash light up most of the sky to the south of me in Folkestone. I have yet to hear any Thunder despite having the window open a bit.

Theres a few flashes coming from that cell to my west but can't hear any thunder from it despite it being close. One thing I am noticing is theres some very fast moving scud like clouds (have I made that up?) moving in the opposite direction to the storm so I assume there must still be some energy left in it yet.

Strikes are still very few and far between here. Thunder a lot louder when it happens but this really is a weak storm if ever I saw one.

Despite how the strikes out in the channel are looking on the map theres surprisingly little to see in Folkestone at the moment. I'm seeing a flash every 40 secs - 1 min with the occasional deep rolling growl of thunder with my strikealert sat in the window going off with even less frequency. Theres a wonderful cool breeze kicked up out there and its raining gently; so nice after that sticky air we've had for the past 48 hours.

Woken up 20 minutes ago by thunder - thought it was a neighbours wheelie bin at first as I thought it was only forecast for the west country.

Lightning now visible and thunder increasing in volume. Appears to be a band of mammatus? cloud ahead of the front. Seems to be headed this way unfortunately :/

Just heard 2 distant rumbles here from the West. Not surprised as its gone quite humid here this afternoon!

I can see a few CGs coming out of that band across the english channel from my bedroom window every 45 secs - 1 minute; didn't know it was there until I heard the growls of Thunder rumbling across Folkestone.

OK so just as I thought it was going weve just had 3 terrific claps of thunder in Folkestone - the second of which Im almost certain hit ground within half a mile. This storm has suddenly lost its cool factor

Terrific thunderstorms in Folkestone plus the worst rain Ive seen in a few years. Theres still huge ICs across the sky just east towards Dover and loud thunder even now. Weve had this for the best part of 2 hours now :S

Been thundering here since about 3:30am. Torrential rain mixed in with it too. Nothing too loud or close to report but definately loud enough to hear it through closed doors and windows.

Quite loud cracks of thunder now - brief rain too An hour ago it was 27 degrees which has now only dropped to 25.2. Not refreshing at all yet still horrible and sticky.

Ohh also Thunder coming from my West - towards you guys in Chatham/Sheerness. This is on to of the South East one and even some due south of me. Think I'd better get me birds in off the lawn; don't think they'd enjoy being out in this much when it kicks off!

Deep sinister growls of Thunder coming from the South East from me - hadn't noticed that cell out in the channel until then!

Theres been a couple of bright flashes and rumbles of Thunder here in the past 20 minutes which has now turned in to heavy rain. Wasn't expecting that tonight!

You're not the first to ask about that as it really does look as you described - even I had to look twice! Alas closer inspection of the RAW image reveals its a seagull and the 'ring' is just artifact from the high JPEG compression in the uploaded version of the picture. Jamie

Thanks for the comments everyone - it stuck out like a sore thumb but I had to be quick with the camera as within 3 minutes it had vanished. Its all quietened down here now ; the last cell is now moving out into the North Sea and thunder is becoming less frequent. That last cell was quite nice - at one point there were 3 CGs & 1 IC at the same time within the same area which I hadn't expected from a storm that didn't seem very intense. At least that humidity thats been around all day has cleared! Jamie

Could this be what you saw Neilsouth? I took this looking north towards the sea about 20 minutes ago. I suddenly spotted an odd formation similar to one I saw a few years ago. It seemed to approach land rather quick despite the storm moving along the coast. Unusual Cloud

Rolling past now with louder thunder & seen 3 CGs while hanging out of the patio door.