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Havoc of the all-night thunderstorm


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Posted
  • Location: Irlam
  • Location: Irlam

The period 6th-13th July of 1923 was very warm/hot and at times, thundery. CET: 21.5C

In London, it will be remembered for the spectacular thunderstorm of 9th-10th July 1923. The storm began at 11pm and lasted until about 5am, the next morning.

Number of lightning flashes seen in London in that 6 hour period

J1923b.jpg

Rainfall amounts that fell

J1923a.jpg

Here is the Times of 11th of July 1923 and one of my favourite newspaper cuttings I have of this storm.

July1923f.jpg

July1923a.jpg

July1923b.jpg

July1923c.jpg

July1923d.jpg

July1923e.jpg

July1923g.jpg

July1923h.jpg

July1923i.jpg

July1923j.jpg

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Posted
  • Location: 4 miles north of Durham City
  • Location: 4 miles north of Durham City

Thanks for that Mr.Data

Wish we got storms like that today. Although I suspect people would get even more of a shock (quite literally) if it occurred during the day!

Edited by PersianPaladin
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Posted
  • Location: Shrewsbury
  • Location: Shrewsbury

Amazing storm that if it occured today would rate the month concerned right up there with the best even if 20-odd days were cold and dull. 19 flashes a minute over 6 hours- almost 1 every 3 seconds! By comparison the best storm lightning-wise that I can recall, namely 10-11 July 1995 here in Shrewsbury, at its peak made about 1 every 10-15 seconds for about 2 hours from what I can recall (the most frequent lightning in that one was at around midnight-2am, however the heaviest rain was from when it first started about 6.30pm until about 9, it eased to just steady rain after that). Also the area hit by the 1923 storm seems to be greater (the 1995 one affected just the NW Midlands and adjacent parts of Wales)- surely that was the storm of the 20th Century.

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Posted
  • Location: chellaston, derby
  • Weather Preferences: The Actual Weather ..... not fantasy.
  • Location: chellaston, derby

fascinating stuff indeed

mind you, thunderstorms 'of old' seemed to be much better then the grey messy things we get today. ceratinly the ones in the 60's and early 70's were much different then modern ones.

my dad always used to tell me about storms which lasted the night, and ones that 'came back again'... folklore maybe, but interesting.

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Posted
  • Location: Western Isle of Wight
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Storm, anything loud and dramatic.
  • Location: Western Isle of Wight

I would expect to either run out of cf cards, or battery life.

Please God can we have one of those, preferably without all the fires and damage.

Amen :)

Thanks for that Mr Data, brill :)

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Posted
  • Location: Warminster, Wiltshire
  • Location: Warminster, Wiltshire
my dad always used to tell me about storms which lasted the night, and ones that 'came back again'... folklore maybe, but interesting.

I've always been told about storms that got stuck around the high ground here and 'came back again' and I used to believe it. That was until 24 June 2005 when we had a series of storms throughout the morning and early afternoon that were running along a virtually stationary Cold Front.

I then thought that there's no way a storm could get stuck and come back again. It was either episodes of a series of storms on fronts, or backbuilders, or some large MCS' rotating.

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Posted
  • Location: Solihull, West Midlands. UK
  • Location: Solihull, West Midlands. UK
By comparison the best storm lightning-wise that I can recall, namely 10-11 July 1995 here in Shrewsbury, at its peak made about 1 every 10-15 seconds for about 2 hours from what I can recall (the most frequent lightning in that one was at around midnight-2am,

(the 1995 one affected just the NW Midlands and adjacent parts of Wales)- surely that was the storm of the 20th Century.

Typical! Missed Birmingham/Solihull again. :D But then I wasn't around in 1923 so I don't care. :D

I think I know which storms you are referring to, Summer of '95. I distinctly remember the evening consisting of thundery showers and thunderstorms but it was after dark that things really began to kick off. Think it was about 01:00am and was seeing my friend off home when a CB closed in with lightning that, and I kid you not, must have been throwing out IC and CG bolts once every three or four seconds.

What a time not to have a digital camera. Didn't even have a PC then come to think of it!

I just stood there in awe outside my front doorstep and watched it get closer until the rain came lashing down and the strikes getting a touch too close so, as you do, indoors and watch from window. Probably was one of the most active storms I've ever witnessed at night.

And Mr Data, they don't call you Data for nothing. ;) Thanks for the info.

Phil.

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  • 14 years later...
Posted
  • Location: St Neots, previously Billericay & Brentwood
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, gales, all extreme weather really!
  • Location: St Neots, previously Billericay & Brentwood

Have all the articles for this disappeared from here? I was looking for more information on this storm on Google and brought back to good old netweather! 

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Posted
  • Location: Herne Bay, Kent (14 m)
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms & Snow
  • Location: Herne Bay, Kent (14 m)
3 minutes ago, James1979 said:

Have all the articles for this disappeared from here? I was looking for more information on this storm on Google and brought back to good old netweather! 

https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/download/file/IO_8690b2c7-5190-4b18-a3c5-45f3c51a881e
Good PDF on it 

 

  • Thanks 1
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Posted
  • Location: St Neots, previously Billericay & Brentwood
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, gales, all extreme weather really!
  • Location: St Neots, previously Billericay & Brentwood
Just now, Jamie M said:

Fantastic, thanks Jamie!

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Posted
  • Location: London
  • Location: London
On 04/07/2008 at 17:47, mushymanrob said:

fascinating stuff indeed

mind you, thunderstorms 'of old' seemed to be much better then the grey messy things we get today. ceratinly the ones in the 60's and early 70's were much different then modern ones.

my dad always used to tell me about storms which lasted the night, and ones that 'came back again'... folklore maybe, but interesting.

I remember a few of those in the 80s and 90s.

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire
  • Weather Preferences: Bright weather. Warm sunny thundery summers, short cold winters.
  • Location: Hampshire

I distinctly remember the middle of those. Probably the most severe of the rather frequent 80s night-time thunderstorms.

Was in NW Sussex and IIRC the storm knocked the power out. The only occasion I ever remember this happening.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Cheshire
  • Location: Cheshire

100 years ago tonight since the all-nighter of 9th - 10th July 1923. That must have been some storm to witness. Eton College chapel was destroyed by fire following a lightning strike and Seaford collected 103mm of rain, with flooding in the town, Newhaven and parts of the London area (Eden). Miraculously and probably because the storm took place at night, no-one was killed, unlike the earlier 'Derby Day' storm of 31st May 1911. 

I was reminded that 55 years ago today, on 9th - 10th July 1968, many places in E & W suffered flooding, particularly in Somerset, Bristol, Bath, Gloucester and Peterborough. Chew Stoke in Somerset collected 173mm of rain and, in all, 2250 sq km collected over 100mm of rain (Eden). I was not affected in Surrey, but that was to change with the well-documented floods of September 1968.

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