Hide in cupboard time

[Len Wood]

Spanish plume is offering some thunderstorms for SW England in the
next few hours.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/

Len
Wembury, SW Devon

[yttiw]

My mother used to hide in the cupboard under the stairs during
thunderstorms when I was a boy.

However, that was nothing compared to the woman I know who went camping
in Wales with her husband and son one summer many years ago. The two
men repaired to the pub on a warm afternoon, but she stayed at the tent
for some peace, and time to read a book. After a short while the sky
turned black and the mother of all storms drifted over her tent. These
storms actually made the evening news because the large hail broke the
glass in numerous greenhouses in North Wales.

I dont know how much is exaggeration but on this remote hillside the
lightning was almost continuous and overhead; the hail and rain was of
biblical proportions and this poor woman was on her own in a tent. I
will not go into too much detail of just how frightened she became, but
double incontinence was involved as the storm reached it's worst point.

After listening to her story, I have every sympathy with those who fear
violent summer thunderstorms.

[Neil]

On 17/06/2013 21:17, yttiw wrote:
> I will not go into too much detail . . . . . but double incontinence was involved

Sorry but that's too much detail!!

[Adam Lea]

I remember a violent storm when I was very young (about 5 or 6) which
had me sheltering in the hallway with my mother as golf ball sized hail
fell outside.

I don't know if there is any record of severe storms in the Gtr
Manchester area in 1984 or 1985.

[yttiw]

In which case, just be thankful that you have never been frightened to
that extent by severe weather.

[Richard Dixon]

On Monday, 17 June 2013 21:17:05 UTC+1, yttiw wrote:

> After listening to her story, I have every sympathy with those who fear
> violent summer thunderstorms.

My biggest fear growing up, which is rather odd for a lad with a keen interest in the weather.

Now I look forward to an overnight thunderstorm. They were two-a-penny when I was growing up in the 80s. Will be interesting to see if I get a rare one in the next few days - per Len's Spanish plume comment it's interesting to see theta-ws from 16-18c in and around the SE corner for the next two days at least.

Cheers
Richard

[Dawlish]

Why have you described this as a "Spanish" plume Len?

[Len Wood]

I had just eaten some paella.

[Dawlish]

Ah! Thought that must be the case. Try tajine next time!

[Joe Egginton]

About 20 years ago a very bad storm came over in the night. I could
feel the electricity in the air. The door bell kept ringing by itself.
The letterbox flap was clanging against the door with the wind. Plenty
of fork lightning and deafening thunder, which shook the house. I didn’t
wet myself, though I was too frightened to go to sleep. LOL.

Joe
Wolverhampton.

[Col]

The instantaneous lightning/thunder is when it begins to get rather scary.
I recall a storm here in 1994 that was like that, constant flashes of
lightning, instant thunder, rain sheeting down. Not known anything
like it since.

Going further back there was a terrifying storm in Leeds when I was
a child. At first it was fun but eventually it got so bad that my mum,
brother & I were huddled together, all 3 of us scared shitless.
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl
Snow videos:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3QvmL4UWBmHFMKWiwYm_gg

[Alastair McDonald]

"Col" <reddw...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:q9qdnUZygdGrJl3M...@bt.com...

Ahhh! We don't get them like that now. Thank goodness for global warming :)

Cheers, Alastair.

[Neil]

On 18/06/2013 09:30, yttiw wrote:

Oh come on, I was just jesting - Lighten up!

Having been benighted on the side of an alpine mountain, in a storm,
with St Elmo's fire dancing around, I can honestly say that I have been
very scared by severe weather.

Thankfully, that incident (and no other) has involved double
incontinence . . . . Yet!

[yttiw]

I can understand that.

The scariness of instant thunder is eclipsed (is that a pun?) by the
delayed scariness of almost no thunder.

In 2007 I was watching an approaching storm from my living room, and
the lightning was getting closer and closer. One strike I saw seemed to
be just behind a tall tree in the vicarage garden which is about 100
yards from us.

I knew that the next one was going to be close. I had all the windows
open because it was so hot and the noise of the rain/hail was very
loud. Then the rain eased off, and it became eerily quiet (relatively).

Suddenly, outside the window, there was a very bright flash accompanied
by a loud "crack", like a gunshot only about 100 times louder.
That was it.
I thought ******* hell, that was close, and looked out the window to
see if I could see any signs of damage. But everything seemed ok.

And then, after a minute or so, there was another instant flash/thunder
but this time it came from the opposite side of the house (i.e. away
from the previous direction).

The worry began after this, when I just sat there contemplating how
close the lightning strike must have been for me to hear no thunder.

There is a video of a lightning strike at Glastonbury 2009 here:-
http://youtu.be/cX7_qb95rmU (warning - includes bad language), but
the sound is longer than the one I heard, which leads me to believe the
strike was closer than that. The more I sat and thought about it, the
more panicky I became; which is completely illogical, as the threat had
receded.

[Vidcapper]

On 19/06/2013 09:37, yttiw wrote:

>
> There is a video of a lightning strike at Glastonbury 2009 here:-
> http://youtu.be/cX7_qb95rmU (warning - includes bad language), but the
> sound is longer than the one I heard, which leads me to believe the
> strike was closer than that.

Who *isn't* gonna swear, when it's that close!!

--
Regards,

Paul Hyett, Cheltenham

[Vidcapper]

On 18/06/2013 20:55, Col wrote:
> Joe Egginton wrote:
>> On 18/06/2013 09:30, yttiw wrote:
>>> On 2013-06-17 21:38:31 +0000, Neil said:
>>>
>>>> On 17/06/2013 21:17, yttiw wrote:
>>>>> I will not go into too much detail . . . . . but double
>>>>> incontinence was involved
>>>>
>>>> Sorry but that's too much detail!!
>>>
>>> In which case, just be thankful that you have never been frightened
>>> to that extent by severe weather.
>>>
>>
>> About 20 years ago a very bad storm came over in the night. I could
>> feel the electricity in the air. The door bell kept ringing by
>> itself. The letterbox flap was clanging against the door with the
>> wind. Plenty of fork lightning and deafening thunder, which shook the

>> house. I didn�t wet myself, though I was too frightened to go to

>> sleep. LOL.
>
> The instantaneous lightning/thunder is when it begins to get rather scary.
> I recall a storm here in 1994 that was like that, constant flashes of
> lightning, instant thunder, rain sheeting down. Not known anything
> like it since.
>
> Going further back there was a terrifying storm in Leeds when I was
> a child. At first it was fun but eventually it got so bad that my mum,
> brother & I were huddled together, all 3 of us scared shitless.
>

If your nerves can stand it, try this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDk2EDNT3Qw