TropicThunder

Sky to my south now looking quite thundery, and first sferics detected!

Gone quite dark to the East of here and clouded over now.

Tbh it looks most likely to go south of you but who knows. I still don't expect there to be much electrical activity by the time it reaches these shores anyway, though there could be some very heavy rain for some.

Yes I had a great view of that storm from here, arguably the most frequent lightning I've ever witnessed first hand. Meanwhile that French storm is now hitting the channel, still going strong...

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking I'm going to be glued to the radar and lightning maps over the next few hours lol. Keeping everything crossed but we all know what is likely to happen when it hits the channel.

After a damp and murky morning, the sun is now out here and it's feeling very warm and muggy. Looks like some sharper showers are already starting to form on the back edge of the rain band.

I start work at 3.30am, and not once in the four years I've been getting up at that time have I witnessed lightning on my drive into work. I'm pretty sure if this were the 90's I would have witnessed plenty, given that all nighters seemed to be a relatively regular thing when I was growing up (and I was terrified of storms back then). Rare as rocking horse poo now.

My view to the north I am about to drive to Northampton so hoping to run into something of interest!

Looks like a no-go for tonight, still plenty more opportunities to come.

Well I will be in Northampton for a lot of the weekend, usually I think that would be a decent place to be for plumey setups but looks like it may be a bit too far east this time. So my attention for now is on around this time tomorrow, radar watching to see if anything elevated starts heading this way from France!

Some strikes around Whiteley now, hard to imagine as here we just have slate grey skies and drizzle. That storm in East Sussex looks fun!

Personally I fail to see how people can get excited by temperatures in the mid teens but each to their own. I love extremes of weather, whether it be hot or cold, for me 'mild' is a horrible word. So unless the models start showing temperatures of 20C+ then I'm not interested in it warming up yet, I'd rather continue to look for the chance of snow, especially as it's been over two years since I've seen a damn snowflake here! A few years ago we had snow in April here so it's not impossible...

Well easily the most interesting day of winter (or spring!) today with quite frequent heavy showers of rain/hail/sleet through much of the day, though no proper snow here. Had to laugh earlier though as I got caught in a heavy sleet shower driving in the Forest, tuned into Radio Solent to catch the on the hour weather and not a mention of any rain or precip of any sort, she just said a fine dry day with perhaps a bit more cloud building in the afternoon! Even the presenter commented on it afterwards that there had just been a big 'sleet storm' outside. I'm not normally one for bashing the BBC/MetO but when they can't even get the current weather right it's no wonder they take a lot of stick. I think the forecast was pre-recorded but it's still pretty poor!

What a miserable day. Grey, cold and damp, just your typical UK weather!

Ridiculously mild, almost warm out there today, feeling more like Spring but without the sunshine. I've definitely given up on Winter arriving down here and just want it over now, looking forward to the Summer and storm season although that usually disappoints too. Such a crappy climate we have in this country, what I would give to live in the States.

Indeed, though it just goes to show how forecasts and expectations can be wrong even at such a short time scale. In this case it worked against us but it can go the other way as well and you end up with a surprise snowfall! Pretty crappy 'cold spell' for us down here though I agree, just hoping and praying we see something better in February, it is long overdue.

Light drizzle, and it doesn't even feel that cold!

Yes I've had my eye on that too, unfortunately it's not been kicking out any sferics though, but might see a bit of heavy rain for a while.

Just been up to the roof terrace and can see the odd very distant flash. Mostly to the SE but a few directly to the East as well so they must be quite close to the mainland.

Some pics of some of the flooding round here http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/13627251.UPDATE__Heavy_rain_causes_flooding_across_Southampton/

Had around half an hour's worth of absolutely torrential rain here which has caused flash flooding! Multiple cars breaking down trying to go through flood water, people wading in bare foot to push them out and buses struggling to get through, mental! Sadly no thunder and lightning though.

Had a few distant rumbles in Lymington this morning but otherwise it's been a pretty drab day in these parts. Moderate rain and murky grey skies, only now is the sun trying to poke through the greyness, not too hopeful of seeing anything later. That beast in France looks like missing the UK to me, would love to be in Lille right now!

Well that was a cracking little storm, albeit short lived. Got some video of some vivid fork lightning and very loud thunder. Moved through very quick though!

Nice bright flash and deep crack of thunder just now, not been following this thread for a while so a nice surprise!

Had a pretty good light show here the last 15 minutes or so, looks like Fareham area is doing well.