4 o'clock this afternoon. I was stood in the middle of the field while the
dog was away doing what dogs do best. Nothing unusual about that. But, I was
basking in bright sunshine, while at the same time getting soaked to the
skin in a sudden downpour, and a couple of miles away to the east the
lightning was jumping from cloud to cloud with the almost constant rumble of
thunder making it difficult to hear exactly what herself was getting up to.
Oh, the British weather; don't you love it? I wonder how the forecasters
would have described that?

7.30 this evening. Herself suddenly jumped up and rushed outside, barking
her head off. Then the thunder arrived, and for the next hour and a half all
Hell let loose. Constant lightning and thunder, with 50 minutes of
torrential rain, dumping a much needed 14mm on top of this afternoon's 6mm.
That's the most daily rain since 6th June (28mm).

Skies now perfectly clear with a good display of stars up there. And Jupiter
is showing up beautifully low down to the east.

jim, Northampton

On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:56:54 +0100, "jbm" inspired by Deep
Thought wrote:

Don't knock the thunder & heavy rain Jim, down here in High Wycombe we had just
one rumble all day yesterday and nothing heavier than steady rain at most.

This last week has been one of the coolest if not the coolest August week I can
remember for a very long time - probably since that awful Bank Holiday week in
August 1986!

For four out of the last 6 days the maximum temperature here did not reach 17C
with 2 of those days staying below 16C all day! Sunshine total to noon today...
just over 2 hours since Wednesday! Miserable!

This last week/10 days has seen the first appreciable rainfall (i.e. where we
got more than literally a few spots on the ground) here since early May! Lawn
now showing some signs of green again! Which means I will probably need to cut
it soon... the first time since the end of May!

I live in hopes that ONE DAY we might get a decent thunderstorm here! The last
time we had a decent storm (i.e. with more than 10 rumbles) was July 3rd 1999!
And before that, September 11th 1989 - which to date was the very best storm
I've ever seen in my life!


4 o'clock this afternoon. I was stood in the middle of the field while the
dog was away doing what dogs do best. Nothing unusual about that. But, I was
basking in bright sunshine, while at the same time getting soaked to the
skin in a sudden downpour, and a couple of miles away to the east the
lightning was jumping from cloud to cloud with the almost constant rumble of
thunder making it difficult to hear exactly what herself was getting up to.
Oh, the British weather; don't you love it? I wonder how the forecasters
would have described that?

7.30 this evening. Herself suddenly jumped up and rushed outside, barking
her head off. Then the thunder arrived, and for the next hour and a half all
Hell let loose. Constant lightning and thunder, with 50 minutes of
torrential rain, dumping a much needed 14mm on top of this afternoon's 6mm.
That's the most daily rain since 6th June (28mm).

Skies now perfectly clear with a good display of stars up there. And Jupiter
is showing up beautifully low down to the east.

jim, Northampton

"Nigel Morgan" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:56:54 +0100, "jbm" inspired by Deep
Thought wrote:

Don't knock the thunder & heavy rain Jim, down here in High Wycombe we had
just
one rumble all day yesterday and nothing heavier than steady rain at most.

This last week has been one of the coolest if not the coolest August week
I can
remember for a very long time - probably since that awful Bank Holiday
week in
August 1986!

For four out of the last 6 days the maximum temperature here did not reach
17C
with 2 of those days staying below 16C all day! Sunshine total to noon
today...
just over 2 hours since Wednesday! Miserable!

This last week/10 days has seen the first appreciable rainfall (i.e. where
we
got more than literally a few spots on the ground) here since early May!
Lawn
now showing some signs of green again! Which means I will probably need
to cut
it soon... the first time since the end of May!

I live in hopes that ONE DAY we might get a decent thunderstorm here! The
last
time we had a decent storm (i.e. with more than 10 rumbles) was July 3rd
1999!
And before that, September 11th 1989 - which to date was the very best
storm
I've ever seen in my life!


I'm not knocking the thunder or the rain. In fact, the rain was very much
needed in these parts. We could do with a few more days like it.

The thunder is however something else around here. Because Northampton
nestles at the base of the Nene Valley, when a storm does arrive, it has
quite a job getting back out again. In the past I've known them rumble on
for 6 hours or more. One night, about 25 years ago, when I was living in
another part of town, we had the mother & father of a storm. Most people I
believe unplugged their TV's, and wisely so. Half way through there was an
almighty crash, and I'm sure the building (flats) moved. When we all went
out the following morning, we found was a ruddy great hole in the wall where
the cable TV relay had been. Took them almost a week to repair all the
damage to the system. It blew out every relay back to the receiving station,
3 miles away.

Having been hit by lightning once, just outside Luton in 1979, and lived to
talk about it, I do tend to be a bit wary of it when I'm outside. But I can
spend hours sitting indoors watching it through the windows. (That's one
Will forget to put in his little questionnaire!) It's wonderful what nature
can throw at us.

So if you want a decent storm, come up to Northampton next time its
forecast. I can guarantee you a very good show. Try it next weekend
(20th-22nd August). It's the annual Balloon Festival at Billing Aquadrome,
and the weather normally puts the knockers on it. Last year they only got
off the ground once during the three days. Flights at 6am and 6pm, Balloon
Glow 9pm Saturday, weather permitting.

jim, Northampton

On Aug 16, 2:01*am, "jbm" wrote:
"Nigel Morgan" wrote in message

...





On Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:56:54 +0100, "jbm" inspired by Deep
Thought wrote:

Don't knock the thunder & heavy rain Jim, down here in High Wycombe we had
just
one rumble all day yesterday and nothing heavier than steady rain at most.

This last week has been one of the coolest if not the coolest August week
I can
remember for a very long time - probably since that awful Bank Holiday
week in
August 1986!

For four out of the last 6 days the maximum temperature here did not reach
17C
with 2 of those days staying below 16C all day! *Sunshine total to noon
today...
just over 2 hours since Wednesday! Miserable!

This last week/10 days has seen the first appreciable rainfall (i.e. where
we
got more than literally a few spots on the ground) here since early May!
Lawn
now showing some signs of green again! *Which means I will probably need
to cut
it soon... the first time since the end of May!

I live in hopes that ONE DAY we might get a decent thunderstorm here! The
last
time we had a decent storm (i.e. with more than 10 rumbles) was July 3rd
1999!
And before that, September 11th 1989 - which to date was the very best
storm
I've ever seen in my life!

I'm not knocking the thunder or the rain. In fact, the rain was very much
needed in these parts. We could do with a few more days like it.

The thunder is however something else around here. Because Northampton
nestles at the base of the Nene Valley, when a storm does arrive, it has
quite a job getting back out again. In the past I've known them rumble on
for 6 hours or more. One night, about 25 years ago, when I was living in
another part of town, we had the mother & father of a storm. Most people I
believe unplugged their TV's, and wisely so. Half way through there was an
almighty crash, and I'm sure the building (flats) moved. When we all went
out the following morning, we found was a ruddy great hole in the wall where
the cable TV relay had been. Took them almost a week to repair all the
damage to the system. It blew out every relay back to the receiving station,
3 miles away.

Having been hit by lightning once, just outside Luton in 1979, and lived to
talk about it, I do tend to be a bit wary of it when I'm outside. But I can
spend hours sitting indoors watching it through the windows. (That's one
Will forget to put in his little questionnaire!) It's wonderful what nature
can throw at us.

So if you want a decent storm, come up to Northampton next time its
forecast. I can guarantee you a very good show. Try it next weekend
(20th-22nd August). It's the annual Balloon Festival at Billing Aquadrome,
and the weather normally puts the knockers on it. Last year they only got
off the ground once during the three days. Flights at 6am and 6pm, Balloon
Glow 9pm Saturday, weather permitting.

jim, Northampton- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi Jim

I watched the track of the storm to the north of me running pretty
much parallel to the Nene, it looked pretty spectacular and was lovely
to watch. We had few flashes overhead (Collingtree Park) as the storm
finally moved in a WSW direction. Rainfall here ended up at 12.4mm for
the day. The total was my highest for a day since 27/02/10! I have no
recorded rainfall at all for 06/06/10. (8.6mm on the 8th)

Cheers Sean

"Seany McD" wrote in message
...


Hi Jim

I watched the track of the storm to the north of me running pretty
much parallel to the Nene, it looked pretty spectacular and was lovely
to watch. We had few flashes overhead (Collingtree Park) as the storm
finally moved in a WSW direction. Rainfall here ended up at 12.4mm for
the day. The total was my highest for a day since 27/02/10! I have no
recorded rainfall at all for 06/06/10. (8.6mm on the 8th)

Cheers Sean


Well spotted, Sean. I realised as soon as I hit the Send button that was the
wrong date, but thought, "Oh, so what? What's a couple of days between
friends?" You are perfectly right, it was the 8th June.

The Chron pages on the web have got a short(!) video of some of the flashes
from Saturday evening.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/ne...ton.6475838.jp

jim, Northampton