100 Years Ago....

[Weather-history]

There were some notable thunderstorms during June 1910 especially in the early part of the month with the 6th-10th being particularly thundery and accompanied by hailstorms.

CET: 14.7

Here are some reports on the storms

6th June

Shrewton: From midnight for nearly 90 minutes, thunder and lightning were almost continuous, most of the flashes within a half a mile...on many occasions the thunder sounded like the rush of an enormous live shell across the sky, ending in an explosion; perhaps this may have been ball lightning as this was seen by a neighbour.

Brighton: A house was struck by lightning and partially destroyed by fire.

7th June

Epsom: sheet and fork lightning, the fork lightning flashes being red and orange. Frequent thunderstorms throughout the day.

Chiselhurst: During the thunderstorm, a nursemaid and two children sheltered under a tree. The stree was struck, the girl instanteously killed and one of the children received a severe shock.

Wantage: At 11pm, a large barn adjacent to the house was struck and soon in flames, the phenomenally heavy rain which accompanied the storm proving very useful in preventing the house from catching fire from the burning pieces of thatch carried over from it.

Swerford: About 8.45pm, another thunderstorm came on from the west and was the worst storm experienced for many years. Rain came down in torrents, blocking the drains and damaging the roads considerably.

9th June

Wych Cross Place: Quantities of large hail stones and irregular pieces of ice were accompanied by vivid lightning which did much damage to trees and buildings.

Caversham: For 35 minutes hailstones varying in size from a marble to a large walnut, fell so that the ground was white with them. The lightning was very severe.

Assenton: Some hail stones were half an ounce in weight and lay in places a foot deep. They froze compact and it was two days before all disappeared.

Waterstock: Extraordinary hailstorm, the stones being as large as walnuts. At one stage there were nearly 4 inches of hail on the open ground, while against walls in places there were broad mounds 4 feet deep. All the hail stones were composed of dense clear ice wrapped round a dull centre.

Broadstone: Brilliant display of sheet lightning in all directions of the sky at night, the prevailing colours being orange, blue and red.

Jersey: Hail stones fell the size of small marbles and did much damage to greehouses.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Mr_Data

[Thundery wintry showers]

Interestingly, these storms resulted from an easterly:

http://www.wetterzentrale.de/archive/slp/1910/Rslp19100606.gif

Easterly winds look like they were dominant for much of the first half of that month. It looks like the airmass was of continental origin, so not one of those cool cloudy type easterlies. I guess that continental imports will have featured at times in the south, especially when the wind backed south-easterly on occasion.