Windblade

Had a flash of lightning last night during some heavy rain that lasted from about 7 - 9pm, then came back later. Lovely and relaxing (ain't had proper rain since new year ). There was no sound with the lightning though but I have had that happen before when it's quite far away right on the edge of audible range (light travel's further and faster than sound after all). I've also had the same thing when I've experienced thundersnow (I feel really lucky and privileged to have witnessed this rare event not once, but twice in my life ) which can give a dampening effect to sound. I'm hoping this is a good sign for a stormy spring/summer ahead.

That's exactly why they do it as the uk media STILL after all these years of documented evidence refuse to believe that we get Tornado's in this country (despite us getting about 100 a year). Been a pet peeve of mine for many years. There is no such thing as a "Mini" Tornado. It's either a Tornado or it isn't.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with that, quite disorganised at the moment, but as we've seen over the past few days things can change very quickly so don't give up the faith!

Don't count us out just yet buddy, tonight is actually looking more favourable than the daytime!

Reading just lit up like a christmas tree on radar. Looks like storms all around, hit and miss.

Kicking off now...

Nice storm at Brighton/Newhaven/Eastbourne area at the mo.

Got lightningmaps and the netweather radar open in the background as I work! If I hear any clicks I'll switch to lightningmaps to see if its headed this way! Still absolutely pouring. My second best weather compared to storms!

Absolutely POURING here in Crayford. It was absolutely BLACK as I left Welling at midday and have now gone to Crayford for work. It followed me here! Looking at it coming it honestly looked very stormy but there seems to be no trigger at the moment (sorry for no pics, hard to take when on the move for work). It's still lovely listening to it pound down though and the radar is showing some intense rain behind it as well. Maybe we will get a storm tonight as they drift up from the channel. I see there is a tornado warning out as well from Nick's forecast! Incredible.

5 storms in 4 days here. Incredible. This year has really made up for the lack of action in previous years, infact I don't ever recall having this many storms in a single year before. More forecast today for our area. I'm just being greedy now but I still hope we get in on the action!

Incredible. Could easily be mistaken for a supercell to the uninitiated with that curling above the cloud.

Haven't been around on here for much of this year due to being very busy and suffering from extreme fatigue which means I can no longer chase so instead have had to let/hope storms come to me . However, I must say this year has been the best year for storms in this past decade. Loads of action here which has been severely lacking in recent years. The last two nights have been spectacular and it looks like we're again in the firing line tonight so although I'm being greedy now I'm really hoping for another light show later!

From Saturday night... Wow.

Very good weekend here for storms. Massive one saturday night about 10pm (sorry I wasn't around to post pics that night) but sadly all IC so didn't get to see any forks. Still, great that we had one. Also heard some thunder yesterday evening after dark. Blitzortung showed a storm just to my east so that must've been where it was coming from. After the bitter endless disappointment/lack of any meaningful action of the last five years or so this year is shaping up to be great so far. I wonder if it has anything to do with the new (and very active) solar cycle? I remember reading years ago that there is mounting evidence to suggest that solar cycles can influence our weather...

Just had my second storm of the day at Crayford. Lots of loud thunder, most sparks are of the CC variety sadly, although I did manage to catch a nice horizontal fork when looking straight up through the skylight.

Oh wow!

Not easy at all, even at night, but you managed to get a great shot there.

Lovely pic. Classic anvil right there.

Ah, in that case my condolence's, I hope you get something decent soon. This year has started off quite well, then had a bit of a lull for a month and now seems to be going strong so plenty of time to go. Keep your chin up and hopefully some decent storms will come your way.

About time. We've been deprived of a lot of the action for many years while everyone else gets it!

Couple of flashes and rumbles last night. At Crayford today and just had a nice little pulse shower. One flash and bang.

Didn't post last night as was pretty late but I finally broke my 4 year night-time storm dry spell. We had horizonal purple anvil streamers to my west across the whole sky, and azure blue forks to my south. It was fantastic. Looking on bliztortung this morning those storms were massive. Tbh I didn't pay attention to the forecast for the past couple of days but noticed (and even commented to my mother) the sky was looking really unstable yesterday evening when we were eating about 6.30pm. Did not expect a fantastic light show later that night however. I had the window open as it was extremely muggy and about 11pm I heard light raindrops which I always find relaxing, especially at night and especially since its been so humid recently. About 10 - 15 minutes later I started to hear distant thunder and noticed it was getting louder. Off went the lights and open went the curtains! I watched the whole thing come and go, from 11.30pm to 12.30am. The rain got very intense, the wind was biblical and the lightning was absolutely fantastic and went right over the house . Lovely way to end the evening. Now being greedy and hoping for more.

Well this is boring isn't it? Exactly one month ago from now I was enjoying a cracking little storm at home. Since then I've had about ten minutes of proper heavy rain on Wednesday night, apart from that, absolutely nothing, with wall to wall sunshine most days and a few grey stratus filled boring days but that's it. No sign of anything on the horizon for the foreseeable. April used to be a brilliant month for small pulse storms round these parts not so long ago...

Bugger, just skimmed us, but on it's way to Sevenoaks now where my friend is anticipating it's arrival. He sent me a pic of the skies there and it's getting darker and darker so he might get in on some action if it re-electrifies.

Very dark here now, winds got up and it's very icy. We got light hail now as well...