THUNDERSTORM T0022 Date: Friday 7th May 1999 Time: 16:25
BST Location:
Macclesfield, Cheshire UK Path: Overhead
Synoptics:
Plume / Frontal triple point Duration: 1 hour Type: Embedded, likely elevated Multicell Average lightning type: High-Amp C-G Average discharge rate: 82 seconds
Footage Quality: VHS
This
storm was powered by an active Atlantic weather system, and it was localised
to the northwest of England judging by the Sferics, suggesting the
triple-point on the front had some factor to play (main Iberian plume
destabilised over France, clipping SE England).
It was rich with high-amp C-G strikes, and the cloud base seemed quite high resulting in some
incredible explosive thunders. Unfortunately the C-Gs proved difficult to
capture as the storm floated overhead, and were all off-camera, however the
reflection of the flashes were bright enough to be picked up.
Along
with some excellent thunder sounds, the soundtrack of the footage also
picked up click sounds as each C-G occurred. This is usually caused by a
notable electromagnetic pulse from a strong (or close) lightning channel,
and is often picked up by analogue recording devices (like my Hi-8 video
camera).
The storm system continued
northwards towards the Manchester area after giving torrential rain over
much of the
region.
