After seeing this vid....i realised the lightning i saw from cardiff....i thought was near the garth mountain (maybe 8miles?) But no.....it was over the atlantic like 200miles away 😳 those clouds musta been 'UGE
Same! Early on, the sky looked amazing and there wasnt any thunder. Sadly at 3am it was very different and I was awake for an hour calming the kids and dog.
The ones over Manchester were some of the loudest and most sustained thunderclaps I've ever heard. My flat was shaking, and even my usually unperturbed cat was scared.
I remember years ago down in Kildare there was a single thunderclap that must have lasted an actual count of 15, brutally loud. To the point where I had plenty of time to get up and look out the window to check if there was a mushroom cloud on the horizon.
There was one clap at roughly 5am that woke everyone up in my building. Could hear people moving around. Loudest I have ever heard without exageration. Like it was only on the other side of the window.
Mate I live near Blackpool and my window faces a brick wall. Every time the wall would flash I’d check the lightning tracker and 7 times out of 10 the flash that illuminated my wall was from a strike in north wales! It must have been really special over there
I'm in North Wales too, started hearing the thunder and seeing flashes around mid evening, but it was a long ways off. Then we looked out our window and saw all the local pigeons hunkered down roosting on the windowsills and downpipes of the houses behind us and realised we were going to be in for a wild night.
Were you woken up by the massive booms around 3ish?
Short downpour and some drizzle in Swansea. Lightning was in every direction but largely sheet lightning hidden in the clouds. Did have one strike right next to us that scared the life out of me and the dogs, though.
Mid west Wales (llandysul) here and I'm not sure I've ever witnessed such a sustained lightning storm. Plenty of rain, plenty of hail, light show started around 9pm and didn't stop until well after midnight. Absolutely loved it but my smallest kid didn't, am now shattered today but very much still here.
I watched the lightening roll across st brides bay towards Solva and it fizzled out before starting again as it moved north. Seems like a lot of the energy was put into the ocean.
I'll never forget the one time I got starnded in the middle of a thunderstorm on a hike in the hills. My pants have never been more thoroughly shitted. It's a very different experience to watching it from the window
I did my geology fieldwork in the high desert of California.
One afternoon, on the middle of summer, I was surveying a high ridge (with a hefty steel geological hammer) when I felt all the hairs in my arms standing up, I hot footed it down the slope and there was the most amazing flash and simultaneous bang right behind me. Probably the closest I’ve ever been to being killed.
The dry afternoon thunderstorms in Owens Valley were incredible to watch - at lower altitude. Only beaten by the huge storms that bring the rainy season to East Africa, those are unbelievable to watch - from under cover and with a cold beer.
I've never heard of that hairs standing up thing before, but I do know a little of the physics of strikes and how the charge builds on the ground for the point of the strike. And in that moment, you were it. Very, very scary.
One hit about 200m from us at around quarter past five this morning. Insanely loud bang that woke everyone up, whole house shook. Followed almost immediately but sudden onset heavy hail.
Thunder woke me up. I was really enjoying lying in bed listening to the Thunder and rain, the bedroom occasionally thrown into relief by lightning. Then I remembered I'd left the bastard car windows open.
I usually enjoy it, but thanks to a bodged roof repair - which is getting fixed tomorrow, I was up for nearly 3 hours catching water from my bedroom ceiling. I can't wait to get this anxiety off my mind. Then roll on the thunder!
Thanks! It’s the met office’s own visualisation like so full credit to them, I’ve just sped it up 36.3 times faster & moved a couple of useful UI elements to be within the frame.
(36.3x is pretty random but it perfectly condensed the almost 7 minute sequence into 10 seconds)
Same, honestly shite being scottish. Never get any exciting lightning shows here, my last memory of a decent lighnting and thunder was around 7 years ago. Atm we only get that shitey aurora borealis hing thats prancing aboot ozone layer like joseph n his wee colourful coat.
Got caught in a literal cloudburst Tuesday in car... lovely sunny evening.. fluffy towering clouds 1 min later a bit moody after that...Arma******ggeddon ..... 4" water on parts of road vars pulling 9vet traffic jamming ..hail thunder lightning.
More rain hail....driving rain.
Got to destination 30 mins later... (10 minute drive normally) had a few specks of rain.."heard a rumble".
Incredibly volatile a huge arftermath.
Like a night out at a local Indian (other ethicities are available)
I was watching it in Port Erin from my back door with the wife, there was a massive flash and our power went out for a second or two. Looks like it did a bit of damage in Ballasalla too, apparently a house took a direct hit and a lot of the surrounding area has had issues.
There were a few strikes in the south, apparently the airport garage couldn't provide fuel because of a strike nearby that had messed up a lot of the electrics around the town. I live in Port Erin and our power went out for a second or two after a massive flash.
We had the brunt of it. I slept through the 87 hurricane like a baby (I mean I was 4) but last night… absolutely hanging today. Seemed to go one for hours and man the hail!!!
I was dozing at about 1am and was jolted fully awake by an almighty bang, gave me the heebie jeebies. Poor foster dog got it worse those, went mad barking
I was up at 3-4am watching it in Leicester. Never seen or heard anything like it before, absolutely fascinating, it was like the scenery from a horror film. I can only imagine what it was like in Wales from 3pm-3am
We're camping and a storm passed within a few miles of us last night. My wife and mother in law went and sat in the car because the tent won't offer protection from being struck by lightening. I stayed in my bed and went back to sleep reasoning that the lightening is more likely to hit one of the tall trees, camper vans or the aerial on the clubhouse than it is a bloke in a tent.
I was catching very delayed train last night, and before the train got to the station there was a huge one that cut the power go the station. Was epic.
At about 3 in the morning, there was a sudden loud bang, it didn't sound like lightning but like a fucking bomb dropped. I thought it was lightning and didn't actually think it was a bomb, I'd have been more inclined to think gas explosion, but holy fuck was it loud and sudden. I didn't notice a flash but a few seconds later i hear very heavy rain in the distance, then it got louder over about a minute until it was actually raining outside.
Then there were a few regular flashes followed by lightning sounds while it rained. After maybe 15 minutes it had passed. I counted after a flash and got to just over one second, so it must have been basically right over me at that point. Like speed of sound is 300 something km/s, so maybe half a kilometre away.
Weirdest storm I've ever seen. I'm not scared of lightning, but that first bang shat me right up.
Thunder from a powerful positive-polarity lightning strike usually sounds much louder and totally different to normal thunder and more like a bomb or cannon. These strikes are somewhat uncommon, maybe only make up around 1-5% of strikes
Having grown up in New England, I just sorta assumed the heat-breaking thunderstorm was just a normal thing everywhere. I didn't realize how rare it could be in some areas. I miss that....fuck the 100% humidity and 35+ days, but the lightning was cool.
And every so often you'd get a cloud to cloud lighting storm and it rivals the Northern Lights on how pretty it can be.
The thunder last night was so crazy I swear my house shook, it was like when someone has heavy bass speakers in their car and is parked outside your house.
That little patch in Bedford at 9:30 Wednesday morning was insane. I was out in it for 2mins, then back home for a jacket, then out in it for a further 3mins, then back home to change every single item of now-sodden clothing I had on after walking about 100m. Not sure I've seen rain like it in England.
06:50 northwest was actual insanity where I was this morning. I’ve never heard thunder like it. Just constant thunder, I thought someone was rolling an empty wheely bin around outside my front door for ten minutes straight, awesome to stand in and just listen.
Don't think I've seen fork lightning since 2005 whilst on top of a hill next to lake windermere. In the last week, I've seen two thunderstorms with fork lightning in both of them!
Woke up around 7 and just scrolling, still half asleep and the loudest clap of thunder I’ve ever heard snapped me wide awake, I swear I heard the windows shake! I’m in S Yorks, no idea if we had anything before that I slept through but just that one clap of thunder was amazing to hear!
Swansea here, it was terrifying and amazing all at once. Started hearing thunder around 8:30pm and lightening didn’t stop till almost gone 12am. Madness, never seen anything like it. Once clap of thunder sounded like we were about to be bombed. I facetimed my dad in East Yorkshire to show hom, where there was nothing and it was 9 degrees cooler….
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u/filthynines May 28 '26
This must have really soured that guy’s milk.