Lightning Hunter

Update for New Milton: January: 72.5mm February: 107.7mm March: 62.9mm April: 1.6mm May: 101.0mm June: 88.7mm July: 127.2mm (so far) Year: 561.6mm (so far)

34mm so far since the rain started last night.

On a slightly lighter note, albeit a serious one for the animals in question, a family of woodmice in our garden have had to make an emergency relocation of their nest this afternoon, carrying all their babies from the flooded area under the patio. This hasn'e happened for a good few years, so shows how sodden the ground is after nearly an inch of rain today.

Wettest and coolest day pof the summer here today. At 1700 BST the total was 23.9mm. It's still raining hard too. Max temp was only 15°C.

Very wet here today, just 1.5mm off the wettest day of the month, just behind one day in the first week. Approaching 16mm with continuous moderate/heavy rain, getting heavier.

Around 450 homes are to have their electricity turned off this hour in Tewksbury according to BBC radio.

Our total for 24hrs to 1800 is 14.8mm, a little more than I expected, but at least the day itself was mainly dry apart from a shower at 0815 and 1600.

Main thundery activity staying over France this morning with mainly moderate bursts of rain over the UK. We've collected around 8mm overnight and are now dry, if overcast.

GFS latest predicts about 2-3mm here on the coast in the next 24hrs. We'll probably wake to a damp morning but it should brighten up in the afternoon with heavy showers inland and sunny here on the coast. Could be over an inch widely in the Midlands though.

Best thunderstorm was on the night of 2nd June 1999. It dumped my highest day and hour rainfall totals at 60.8mm in 1.5 hours! It rolled in from the Channel late evening and lasted a good couple of hours with torrential rain, strong winds and marble hail. Some of the 'plume' storms of the early 1990s were very long-lasting and spectacular lightning-wise. I've never seen such long-lasting all-nighters since. If only I was old enough to get some shots of the lightning! Worse wind event obviously 16th October 1987. This kick-started my weather interest at age 6 with huge husts, opposing wind directions and an 'eye', just like a hurricane as the low pushed over. I'll never forget the sound of trees snapping and tiles scapping down the roof and smashing on the floor, as well as the constant flashes in the sky (lightning or power not sure). Another nasty wind was January 1990. The entire roof blew off my grandmother's block of flats and our school greenhouse took off and smashed into our school hall during assembly, luckily nowhere near the windows.

A rumble of thunder? The media will happily call anything 'freak'.

*Update* January - 72.5mm February - 107.7mm March - 62.9mm April - 1.6mm May - 101.0mm June(so far) - 88.7mm

Here's mine for New Milton, Hampshire: January - 72.5mm February - 107.7mm March - 62.9mm April - 1.6mm May - 101.0mm June(so far) - 40.4mm 2007 so far - 386.1mm

Some persistent rain overnight gave the wettest spell so far this month. Cloudy and drizzly this morning, sunny this afternoon, breezy. Max temp - 20°C Min temp - 12°C Rainfall - 10.1mm Current - 19.2°C, dew 12°C, 1009.7mb, rising, 1/8 cu, sunny.

Dry and bright today with sunny spells. Moderate SW winds. Max temp - 20°C Min temp - 13°C Rainfall - 0.0mm Current - 17.9°C, dew 13°C, 1001.9mb, 3/8 cu, sunny

Ha, I'm wondering when it will start raining - the grass is looking rather brown in the garden!

I've got a bloomin exam at 9 a.m! Radio cracking loudly once a minute now! :lol:

Sferic for the first time in the channel on meteocenter: http://meteocentre.com/lightning/map_sfuk....mp;map=EuropeNW

The radar looks interesting in the Channel tonight - that's done it, given it the kiss of death saying that.

The radio has gone very quiet now, all activity diminished in the last 30 mins or so. Oh well, maybe some more drizzle to look forward to tonight. :lol:

OK, any knowledgeable experts on here know if the setup is right to give showers for us southern coastal areas tonight? GFS has a few in the channel around midnight, but I don't know if anything lightnin-wise is likely? Most probably not as usual.

Mostly dry and cloudy today with just the odd bit of showery light rain/drizzle last night and this afternoon. The odd sunny break this afternoon too. Max temp - 20°C Min temp - 13°C Rainfall - 0.9mm Current - 19.6°C, dew point 15°C, 1003.1mb, bright, 7/8 As.

Count me in!

Well the 'heavy, thundery rain' forecast by BBC, Metcheck etc, has now cleared. It doubled this month's total rain to a stonking 0.8mm. 0.4mm in an hour and a half from that rainband.

Dry again today with plenty of sunshine this morning and more cloud this afternoon, with cooler temps. Max temp - 21°C Min temp - 10°C Rainfall - 0.0mm Current - 16.1°C, dew 12°C, 1009.1mb, dry, 8/8 As, 3/8 St.