Prolonged thunderstorm here from about 1430 to 1730 BST. Thunder almost
continuous throughout the period with lots of lightning. Although my
field of view is quite limited because of trees, C-G flashes were
visible every couple of minutes throughout the storm. The rain was
nothing exceptional being mostly moderate with occasional bursts of
heavy and a few brief downpours. Rainfall during the storm totalled 21
mm. It was the most notable TS here for some years. Had it occurred at
night it would have been a very spectacular "son et lumiere".

On BBCTV SouthEast this morning Jo Farrow predicted torrential downpours
during the morning clearing in the afternoon. It turned out the exact
opposite. I played a golf match this morning in fine weather. The
forecast was, of course, recorded sometime in the early hours. By the
time it was broadcast the area of storms she was talking about had
tracked northwards further to the west than expected and were over the
Bristol/Cotswolds area, not affecting the SE. At the golf club it was
the Met Office that was being "bad-mouthed" for getting it wrong again.
The real culprit, of course, is the BBC for churning out forecasts that
are out of date by the time they are broadcast. If the Met Office cares,
perhaps they should refuse to allow pre-recorded forecasts to be
transmitted.

Norman.
--
Norman Lynagh Weather Consultancy
18 Kings Road
Chalfont St Giles
England tel: 01494 870220