Lauren

All I see is a Wendy's!

According to Meteo there is a storm system moving northwards from Northern France, it looks like it's lamost going directly north for the next 3 hours and if continues on that patk the SE should get in the early hours. Have a sneaking suspicion that the channel will pusk it SW along the south coast again.

Would you mind explaing to the newbie what CAPE is and what a good amount of it is?

What is the quickest theoretically a thunderstorm could develop in the UK if the conditions were right. For example here the conditions are quite favourable, but there's not a cloud in the sky. Now if a thunderstorm were to develop how quickly could it go from blue skies to a full blown thunderstorm? Not wishful thinking, just wondering. Secondly which storms get the best results here, homegrown or from the continent?

Same here. It's been a long long time since we've had an all night thunderstorm. I swear we used to at least get two a year. The most we've had for years is a quick 10 minute display at best.

At last check 17degreesC. Wind is actually quite cold and blustery, not in any particular direction. Hazy blue skies.

Coast, how do I go about understanding those maps? We got nothing last night, not even a drop of rain. According to my neighbours rain meter we havn't had a drop in 3 and a half weeks. Sky is hazy blue this morning.

This is a great site for different weather maps. Aviation use it so I imagine it's pretty accurate. From this it looks like the only severe storms are of the westernmodt tip of france pushing north from there over the next 24 hours.

Trust me to be out the country then. I haven't had a decent one since 1997!

I had no idea that area got hit, I thought it buggered off up north. I'm in Rochester. Got some lovely fields out the back which you can see the weather coming for miles. Can't wait to see my first thunderstorm in this house, will be lovely to see it over the fields.

We've got a cumulus build up to the south. Looks beautiful against the sunset, making it have a red glow. Looks like we could get some rain, but nothing heavy. Having said that last week we had massive thunderclouds but nothing happened.

I'm an impatient ****** though!

Ugh, the ones headinf for North kent are dying out. LETDOWN.

Looks like the big stuff will go along the south coast. Theres two small systems higher up that may hit north kent if we get lucky, unlikely though.

Whereabouts in West Kent are you if you don't mind me asking? Is it possible to feel the pressure change? I was out gardening and it seriously felt like the pressure suddenly dropped or would I just be imagining this?

Dear Thor, Please could you send a huge thunderstorm my way. You know one of those that lasts all night with loads of lightening and thunder that you can just sit by the window watching forever? It's been the perfect conditions for the last week or so. You know how much I love them. The last good one was August 1997, you remember it was the day before we went on holiday to Bulgaria. I really enjoyed the ones you sent in the Maldives, Thailand and China, that was some cool stuff. All I'm asking for is one night, all night long, but without anyone getting hurt. I could watch it over the fields before bedtime and then I could lie in bed with the curtains open and watch it for the rest of the night. It would be so awesome. In exchange for this I shall sacrifice three goats in your honour. Unless you're vegetarian, in which case I'll make some yummy veggie burgers (but I can't really see the mighty Thor being veggie). We cool? Love Humble Earthling

Oh come on, send some storms North Kent way please, I've been so patient.

Do you think some of that might hit North Kent. Where are you watching these storms?

I wish I could read most of those graphs and illustrations that were posted. I don't think we'll get anything today. Last week it was very hot and then got humid in the venings but nothing came. All the weather forecasts have predicted heavy rain, but we've not had a drop for 2 weeks now. The other day you could smell it in the air but it still didn't fall.

God I hope so. Spoke to my Uncle yesterday who lives in Greece. Apparently they've been having intense thunderstorms recently.

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.

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.

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.

Add me to the club. I love a good thunderstorm, but haven't had a good all nighter since 1997! It looked promising last weekend with some big thunderclouds but they petered out