[Dave W]

A UKww classic thread..

See http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=21029&posts=6

This is an ongoing list of 'phenomena' noted by UKww observers that remains either 'unexplained' or inconclusively explained... feel free to add to the discussion or comments on each of the links..

 

'Odd' flashes seen outside..

Strange thing happened about half hour ago, woke us up. 6-7 flashes, bright enough to show through bedroom curtains, (facing east). Perturbed me enough to log on and check for Sferics - none, apart from Dutch Coast, no cloud on IR Sat, and no radar echos.Long distance Lightning's the only thing I can think of?

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=20966

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Rising shelf cloud..

I was watching the clouds go by when something out to sea grabbed my attention.... there was a band of scud-like clouds to my east, forming at low levels and slowly rising. As I watched they began to form a more dense sheet which started to move my way. The rising motion intensified and the whole thing accelerated towards the shore. They have just passed over, resembling a shelf cloud with a swing in the wind direction to a SE'ly and moderate rain is now falling. If this had come from the N I would have said "Cold front" and not been at all bothered, but this has come from completely the wrong direction. Mid-level cloud still streaming N-S, and to my north it's pitch black, can still see pannus/scud hurtling along on a brisk easterly.... Any thoughts?

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=21000

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Strange funnel clouds & sheet Lightning incident..

Event 1 -I was kite boarding at St Andrews in Fife on quite a hot day but because the wind was very light I was paying more attention to the clouds about 3-4 miles away. It was when I was looking over St Andrews to the South that I noticed an almost pure white funnel cloud coming down from a dark base. This was over a field of Oil seed rape. Then a few moments later another came down to the right of it curving in the opposing direction. Once they were both down they appeared to 'join' together!

Event 2 -I was on a relatively short walk from the Capital of Shetland out to a small village to the west, weather at the time was: Wind: 25-30 knots with frequent hail and show showers.
About a mile out of town I was cutting through this valley following a track when a severe hail shower set in. The clouds were also very low or it seemed that way with me being on top and within them. As I was more than halfway up the side 'It happened' -without warning everything went brilliantly white, unable to see anything except for this hot light. At the same time there was a sound like when the electricity is turned up in a transformer. At first I thought I had been shot in the face with a flare as it was quite hot, and white like burning magnesium. But then I thought Im out here alone so it couldn't have been. My eyes were hurting a bit. The next thing I knew there was this massive rumble going through the valley and I was laying on the floor...

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=20775

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Vanishing water..

..this is a question that is baffling myself and all the people i have told. Last friday night at 23.30 the fish pond in my garden was full, at 7.30 next morning approx 100 gallon of water had disapeared. I checked for leaks and found none, i then refilled it to the top and it is still full. The pond is securly covered by a net,so nobody has syphoned water away. My question then is, is it possible for it to have evaporated? 100 gallon! almost half the water in it. Everybody i have told has said that it is not possible. The weather on friday evening did change, and saturday was a very warm day. I just wondered if it may have been a freak occurance? or is this a common occurance?

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=19555

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Solstice issues..

As of the 13th of December the evenings start to get lighter, but until the 21st (solstice) the mornings are still getting darker faster than the evenings are getting lighter.

From the 21st onwards, the evenings get lighter faster than the monings get darker, so the net day length still increases. However the mornings do still get darker until the 29th!

So, the Winter Solstice is not a day, but a 16 day period.

The same happens around the summer solstice, but for the summer, the whole thing happens over only six days? I am now trying to work out why the solstice period over the summer is a different length to the solstice period over the winter? I think is is to do with our lattitude.... can you help?..

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=17096

Also discussed at-

http://www.ukweather...ew.asp?tid=3628

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It's the middle of night- but why is it so bright out?

And don't say cause its full moon Its 5 am, I thought it was 8am. I can't even see the moon as it's behind cloud. But its bright like midnight in north Scotland on mid summer's night. I can see everything to my horizon, the mountains etc. Anyone else notice this? Now the cloud is thin and patchy and the outline of moon was visible earlier. My brother remarked on this the previous night, and I had made the same observation then also. It was cloudy then as well, all be it thin cloud.I'm assuming its weather related, which is why I put question here, and I'm guessing it must be something to do with the thin cloud reflecting the light. Its actually got a bit darker now as thicker cloud is above now.

So any answers- or does it just seem like a normal full moon night to you?

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=16703

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Sleet falling from a clear sky..

About 15 mins ago, a sudden squall of sleet fell out of the sky, lasted no more than about 10 seconds. In these winds, its not surprising. But what i dont understand is that there are giant CB's passing to the north of me, but the wind is coming from the west and there is nothing to the west. I used to see this kind of thing a lot in north wales, and i always thought the mountains had an affect, but there are no mountains round here...so what caused this?

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Magnificent Miraculous Mirages

Check these sites with magnificent inverted mirage pictures above the Arctic circle: http://www.islandnet...ry/artmirge.htm http://www.thulebage...a%20morgana.htm The first link gives a explanation of this phenomenon.

The arctic or superior mirage is quite the opposite phenomenon from the desert or inferior mirage, which is familiar to all highway travelers as an apparent pool of water lying on the roadway disappearing as it is approached. Under conditions favorable for viewing a desert mirage, the light rays from the sky are bent upward in a curve away from the surface by hot, light air near the ground and to the eye of the observer. The arctic mirage, on the other hand, occurs when the light rays are refracted downward by cold, dense air near the earth into an arc bending toward the observer. (In the diagrams accompanying this article, the dark lines indicate the actual light ray path and the white dashed lines the path our mind thinks it sees.) The refractivity of air -- a measure of the air's ability to bend the path of light rays -- is dependent upon its density, and the density of air is inversely related to its temperature (decreasing as temperature increases). The atmospheric conditions for producing the arctic mirage occur when cool air adjacent to the surface underlies warm air. When the air temperature increases with altitude, the condition is known meteorologically as a temperature inversion. When the temperature of the lower atmosphere increases with altitude at a rate of 11.2 C° per 100 metres (6.0 F° per 100 ft), the refractive capacity of the air is great enough to cause the path of light rays to bend in an arc equal to the curvature of the Earth. This curvature can present an observer with the image of a flat horizon receding to infinity. A temperature gradient greater than 11.2 C° per 100 m causes light ray paths to exceed the curvature of the Earth, and thus the horizon would appear to be raised upward giving the Earth's surface a saucer-shaped appearance. Under this latter condition, images of objects located at or below the normal optical horizon, such as mountains, glaciers, cliffs or sea-ice rise (loom) into the field of vision, overcoming the normal visual restrictions of the curvature of the Earth.

My nasty habit is to challenge and check. So I ended up with severe doubts about this explanation. Anyone wants to give it a try? (Warning: high-school-level physics involved.)

http://www.ukweather...ew.asp?tid=6858

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Mysteriously increasing dewpoint

I've got a strange one . While in Sardinia recently I spent two weeks in Alghero, in the northwest of the island (on the southern part of the little bit that juts out on my avatar photo, where the little black marks are). I used to listen daily to the metar from the nearby airport which lies about 5 miles north of the bay. Typical daytime observations were Wind E/NE 10kts, CAVOK, Temp 39°C, Dewpt 6°C. However, come night time, the dewpoint would increase noticeably, many times to 21 - 23°C, without any shift in wind direction, ie, still blowing from the land. It became very sticky and the visibility deteriorated dratically as mist formed. Come morning , the dewpoint would fall back again as it was the previous day.

What could cause this increase? Since the wind didn't shift and blow from the sea, it wasn't due to a influx of humid air from the bay. It happened night after night for over a week so it wasn't a one off. The only thing I can think of is that maybe it was due to trees. The area is densely populated with olive, cork, and mediterranean scrub. Could it be that at night time these all started transpiring water vapour, as trees do, or is there some other meteorological reason?

http://www.ukweather...ew.asp?tid=6521

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Temperature rises after dark

Having recently set up my weather station (not yet recording to the PC) I've noticed that the last few evenings the temp has dropped towards and just after sunset but then risen a degree or two during the evening. This doesn't seem to have been related to an increase in cloud cover so why does it happen?

Puzzled.

http://www.ukweather...ew.asp?tid=1875

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Cloud breaks and pressure dips..

Today we've had a heavy and low stratocumulus overcast with aoccassional patches of drizzle (Ugh!) Also thoughout today the barometer has been falling. Between 18:00 & 19:00 we had a sudden breakup of the cloud layer and actaully saw some blue sky for a while before the cover reformed. At the same time there was a 'blip' in the downward trend in pressure, not large; but the pressure did go up about 0.5mb over a period of an hour before resuming it's downward path. Now this looks too good to be a coincidence; but why would the rise in pressure cause the cloud layer to break? Or is there an unseen third party at work here that caused both the pressure rise and the break in the cloud cover?

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Loud booms- long distance thunder?

I can hear loud booms here - must be thunder but I cannot see anything on the radar and it's clear here. The last one was quite loud - could this be long distance thunder?

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=20595

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Possible 'St elmo's fire' report Basingstoke, Hants

I do believe I witnessed St Elmo’s Fire this morning at Roughly 0230 BST at my home in Basingstoke Hampshire during a severe Thunder Storm. After being woken up by my car alarm going off due to very heavy Hail and Rain I noticed a very strange sensation while trying to disarm the alarm and also noticed that the roof was covered in what I can describe as a misty blue looking gas hovering about 5 to 10 inches and a sound of needles dropping on a floor. The feeling I was getting in my body was a tingling sensation in the end of my fingers. The lightning at the time was only CC but was producing every 1 to 2 seconds so I would say the air was very electrified. What are your thoughts on this. At the time I was still half asleep But what I saw and felt I do believe was St Elmo's Fire.

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=20576

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Storm affected frogs?

I recall a really good thunder storm back in July 2000 (I think) when living in a place called Woodford Halse, half way between Daventry and Banbury. The storm, as most do, took place mid afternoon and I observed something really strange as I watched it approach from a west facing upstairs window.My back garden at the time had a decent sized pond in one corner, which over a few years had become heavily inhabited by frogs and toads.This particular afternoon, whilst watching the dark clouds appear in the distance, I observed over a period of about half an hour just about ever frog jump out of that pond and work their way across the lawn to 'hide' under bushes, under rocks, beneath the fence, in fact anywhere apart from in the pond itself. At one time I counted over 50 frogs all hopping in different directions away from the pond.

Now, I am fully aware that a number go walk-about after dark, because I used to watch them quite regularly, but never this many and definitely not during daylight hours. So.... I wondered if they either sensed the pressure change, or sensed the 'electricity' in the air as the storm rumbled closer and decided maybe that it wasn't safe to be in the water? The storm when it did hit was a cracker and having spoken to a local Torro man a few days after he informed me that it did spurn one or two funnel clouds too over towards Towcester.

This is a mystery that has been bugging me since so i thought it was about time that I seeked some expert opinions!

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=17576

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Tornado or not?

During yesterday morning's storms, some tiles got blown off my fiancee's roof in Cambridge, and the builders working on a roof nearby described a 'whirlwind' as being responsible. How can this be followed up to see if it really was? My fiancee described hearing a strange roaring noise when she was in the bathroom about 9.40, but thought it was the builders' tools, and it may have been that the tiles came down at a different time when she was out, anyway. Also, at about the same time there were certainly some very strong and unusual sounding winds at my house a mile or two away, but as I was also in the bathroom at the time I couldn't see whether they were anything other than strong gusts.

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=15637

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Ball lightning event or not?

Just wondered if anyone out there living in Eltham Greenwich Woolwich area heard and saw what from talking to others might have been some sort of ball lightning about 9pmish Wed night??!! Had curtains drawn at time, but room was lit up by amazing orange flash - like a camera flash but stronger and red/orange! Followed by the loudest explosion - like a mortar going off! No am sure was not a firework as spoke to a friend in Plumstead this morning who said he had been looking out of his window at around the same time last night and actually saw very briefly red/orange ball in the sky- which seemed to have fiery tail to it too - then fell towards ground before he heard the enormous explosion too - any ideas please..

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Sudden large wind gust..

During a 10 min med hail storm 7mm dia. there was a 'cutting' noise coming from the sky. I was watching the hail through a window. The alarm went off on my weather station.....I thought must be sudden temp drop... but it stopped , then it beeped again. It was the high gust alarm set at 57 mph. I looked at the top gust and it was 67 mph. I looked back out of the window there was no visible ground winds but there was turbulance above the house. Now....i rushed outside after the alarm went off for the 3rd time only to see the anemometer whizzing around....really fast....but there was no apparent gusty wind at ground level.... this lasted for prob less than a minute.. whats going on? there was nothing visible in the sky, othere than hail and the base of a cb.

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=11604

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Very localised thunderstorms

When we first moved to Ireland I encountered a weather phenomenum that I'd not experienced in the UK, that of very localised electrical storms. We were living in West Cork, 2 miles to the north of Enniskeane. The area is rural and hilly.

In my expereince you can usually hear a thunderstorm coming, however these 'storms' would occur without any warning and would be characterised by one or two cloud to ground (or possible ground to cloud) discharges (one came down the telephone line and fried my PC :-( ). There was no rain associated with the event. After the electrical discharge you didn't hear the 'storm' passing into the distance, so the event seemed to be very local. Does anyone else have experience of localised electrical activity and does anyone know what might have caused it?

http://www.ukweather...ew.asp?tid=5690

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Did I see ball lightning?

I was wondering if anyone here has seen or think they might have seen ball lightning. Its something im particularly interested in but have never been fortunate enough to witness it first hand I think.. However there was ONE occasion when i was on holiday in the late eighties in Gran Canaria when i did see an odd red globe of light at night hovering for about 5 mins about 3km away above a mountain .. it wasnt a plane or helicopter Im pretty sure as it was quite diffuse and pulsing, but to be honest I really dont know..

http://www.ukweather...ew.asp?tid=2214

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Possible GLO event 10th Sept 05 S Essex

Intreresting thing occured about 20 minutes ago and I'm curious as to what happened.I was watching a storm to my west/south-west when a bright blue ball(or at least it looked that way)with a tail about 3-4 times the size of it came out,it then faded it seemed about a second later,about 2 seconds later there was a massive discharge inside the cloud that lit up the entire structure,could these two incidents be related by any chance and in what way??)

http://www.ukweather...w.asp?tid=23778

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If you have any similar threads you started or that you know of, that youde like to add to this please do so..

Unexplained cold on Bodmin Moor..

Whilst driving around Colliford Lake on Bodmin Moor one winters evening many years ago, we encountered a very strange and to date unexplained phenomena. The OAT according to our car thermometer fluctuated between -0.5 and 0.5c from Penlan Eating House all the way east across the moor until we reached the right hand turn off for Colliford Lake. Once on the road round the lake the OAT fell to a pretty constant -1.0c and it was clear by the car headlights that a good frost was taking hold. We continued the slow uneventful drive around the lake and then about 1.5, maybe 2 miles from Bolventor we noticed the car thermometer was showing an OAT of about -4.0c and it was falling steadily as we looked. All appeared pretty much the same outside, clear skies, no mist/fog, excellent visibility in fact - and we were not in a dip or near a water source. Unfortunately the road at this point was very narrow and only suitable for one vehicle, so given the icy conditions we felt it prudent not to stop despite our growing curiosity. I did however wind down the window to test the air and it certainly felt the -5.0c the car thermometer was now indicating. My overriding thought however was the thermometer must be throwing a wobbly, so to test things I squirted the front windscreen with water. To our amazement the widescreen froze almost instantly after the first passage of the wipers and the ice became almost impossible to clear fully until the heater had been going full bore at it for some time. Then liturally a few seconds later my hubby says the temperature is rising again now and within about 2 minutes it was back to -1.5c ish. By this time we had probably travelled about 1/2 mile at the very slow speed we were doing, but now we were able to pull over in a passing place and try to take stock of what had happened. I'd seen the thermometer bottom out at -7.7c, my hubby saw -7.9c, so we'll call it -7.8c as a fair average. We both got out the car and had a good look around (well as best you can in the blackness) but as before all seemed very normal. Upon getting back in to the car we noticed the temperature starting to fall again, -2.0c initially, then liturally within 60 seconds or so -4.0c. Hubby got back out of the car and said "its certainly getting rather chilly dear" (or words to that effect) and again within a minute or so the temperature was -6.0c. That was the lowest point that we witnessed because I just had to get out and feel the air for myself. It was incredible, it felt perishing, despite no wind at all. We both just stood there either side of the car, looking across an icy bonnet at each other in total disbelief. After about 2 minutes we got back into the car to find the temprature had risen to -4.0c, within another 2 minutes or so it was -1.0c and that is pretty much were it remained during the rest of our drive to Bolventor. Over a very welcome hot chocolate at the Jamaica Inn we tried to rationalise what had occured. We both felt a faulty car thermometer was the most likely cause and had we not gotten out of the car at some point we'd probably have convinced ourselves of that fact. However we both felt the air for a couple of minutes at one stage and as previously said it was perishing. What appears to have occured (thought it sounds absurd) is a pocket, pool, lump (call it what you will) of very cold air crossed the Moor in a generally south to north direction at an estimated speed of about 5-10mph. How big it was we have no idea, where it came from or indeed where it went also remains a mystery. The most annoying thing however from our perspective is neither of us had sufficient knowledge of the weather at that time to actually follow this up. We did check the local press for several weeks after the event, hoping someone might report a similar incident, but no such luck. Sadly neither of us can remember an exact date either, but we both concure that it was early Feb 1996, perhaps around the 3rd, 4th or 5th. The one thing we are thankful for though is that we were together and we both witnessed almost exactly the same, apart from the slight discrepancy over the lowest value seen. Had this event occured whilst I was alone I would have almost certainly dismissed it as a faulty thermometer, because no way would I have gotten out of the car on Bodmin Moor in the dark on my own.

Respond here http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=21049

(Another!)..was it ball lightning?

...as we sat, watching out of the window... suddenly there was a large purple ball of lightning that looked to be right outside the window! It was there for maybe 2 seconds and then there was the most huge explosion I have ever heard in my life! We all screamed...

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=22035

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Fork lightning glow

During the amazing display of fork lightning last night i noticed a strange glow in the sky after a big fork would release its energy and disappear, the sky would be lit up in a white colour for a short period of time after the lightning appeared. Was this something to do with the lightning?

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forumold/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=21875

Andy/Uskys wrote..

Unexplained whoosh..

One of the weirdest unexplained things that ever happened to me goes back several years. Coming back from the pub in the pitch dark down a very quiet rural and badly lit road, I realised I had to answer the call of nature. It was a very clear night, with a myriad of stars in the sky, and no street lights to interfere with the view. So, I'm standing there looking up at the sky, as you do, when suddenly there is a sound above my head. Now, the only way I can describe this sound is to liken it to that of an artillery shell. It sounded quite low in altitude, and quite loud, a pronounced "whoosh" without any hint of an engine tone....

[Lightning Hunter]

This is a post I made in July, following a rather unusual roll cloud one morning.

http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2811&posts=22&start=1

[Nigel Bolton]

More tales of the unexpected.

Several years ago when I moved to Reading, I quickly became aware of strange objects that kept appearing on my front lawn during the hours of darkness. Despite my back lawn being laid down to the same type of lawn, and mown regularly, I was rather bemused that none appeared on that. These objects normally appeared in ones or twos, but sometimes, especially if rain was heavy and persistent, around five of these mysteries manifested themselves. These objects varied in colour and consistency, ranging from a sickly yellow to chocolate brown, and varied in shape from a Cumberland sausage through to a ball of wet clay. More auspicious was the fact, that when prodded with a stick, these objects exhaled a highly offensive odour.

One of the mysteries surrounding these objects was the fact, that once they had arrived on my front garden, they then seemingly became inanimate, unable to move by themselves, once on the ground. Leaving these manifestations alone for several hours often allowed them to dry out, especially on a hot or a windy day, and then they were easily removed and placed in the dust-bin. They offered no resistance at all to being moved, and in general they did not seem to harm the grass.

I was extremely bemused by these mysteries, wondering where they came from, as they were never there at dusk. Even mowing the front lawn late in the evening in the summer failed to produce any joy. Once dark, they were not there, and yet in the morning, there they were, glistening at me, especially if covered in rain or dew. I then decided they might be relatives of the crop circle phenomena, appearing as if by magic during the hours of darkness.

I decided to unearth this mystery, by sitting outside my front door on several warm evenings to see if and where these manifestations appeared from. They certainly did not seem to fall from the sky, nor did they grow through the lawn like toadstools, so I therefore drew a conclusion that they were probably not a meteorological phenomena.

I then decided to ask people out late at nights walking their dogs if they has witnessed any strange phenomena similar to those that I percieved, and the answer was always a rather guarded "No", after the explaination I gave. What became even more of a mystery thereafter, that once I had asked several of these folk about these strange apperitions, they mysteriously disappeared never to return.

Has anyone else on Ukww experienced similar strange nocturnal appearances, and if so, can anyone offer me an explaination as to what they were. 

Nigel B.

[PaulKn]

Cat s**t?

[Dave W]

This was meant to be a SERIOUS thread!!

[T Brownen]

At 1620 today Thursday 8th Feb 07 it started to rain, so what?, well for 15 mins it rained here in Brixham South Devon, BUT not one cloud in sight, a lovely blue sky with faint very high cloud.
The question is could it be snow carried from afar and turned to rain locally, any explanation would be welcome.

[Lightning Hunter]

Quote

T Brownen - 8/2/2007 16:47 At 1620 today Thursday 8th Feb 07 it started to rain, so what?, well for 15 mins it rained here in Brixham South Devon, BUT not one cloud in sight, a lovely blue sky with faint very high cloud. The question is could it be snow carried from afar and turned to rain locally, any explanation would be welcome.

There were lots of showers around your area today, so it was probably a shower that had decayed, just leaving the precipitation falling in 'thin air', especially as it happened near the end of the day when convection begins to die.

[T Brownen]

Thank you Lightning Hunter, that sounds possible.
New Milton ? I lived in Manor Rd for 15 years, please contact me admin @xtal.info close the gaps Thanks

[Dave W]

Rainbow at water level
http://www.ukweather...=10970&posts=24

Flash of light at sunset http://www.ukweather...d=10979&posts=4

[AndrewJM]

One of the posts reminded me of an event that I have only experienced in the UK once.

 It was one night during the hot summer of 1976 (I was only young so my memory is a bit hazy but I'm pretty sure I remember it correctly). There was a big thunderstorm, which from memory, appeared quite loud and long-lasting (suggesting it came pretty much overhead) - but on this occasion it didn't rain at all throughout the storm.

Has anyone else ever experienced this in the UK?

[CrowdeR]

A couple of unusual events have happened to me too.

#1 - Silent lightning?

On holiday in Florida, made some new friends who happened to invite me on a family meal with them. How can I turn down free food? Haha. Anyways. On the drive over to the steak house the clouds became really dark, it looked like a thunderstorm was rolling in, and it did just that. We got out of the van, and lightning struck not 10-20 ft from us, hitting a lamppost on the other side of the footpath directly infront of us. But the lightning made no noise? It just hit, a snap, and then you could literally hear the air begin to tear a few seconds later.

Has this happened to anyone before?

#2 - Ground to Cloud lightning?

Again in Florida. Not surprising really, lightning capital of the world. Same day, different thunderstorm. Rolled in off the Atlantic, east of Dayona Beach. As the storm was rolling in, lightning strikes between us and the horizon. A huge lightning strike that took a lot longer to finish its strike compared to most I've seen, started from the ground and branched its way upwards. Clearly starting on the horizon, and taking atleast 2+ seconds to extend into the sky and branch outward in to the cloud base.

Again, has anyone else seen this before?

[PaulKn]

The "crack" heard is the shock wave - lightning striking at very close range does not produce "thunder" as we know it, as the sound has not developed from the supersonic shock wave. After 100-200 metres, the shock wave slows down and turns into a sound wave, at which point it becomes rumbling thunder.

[Andy Ball]

I can remember something odd last year in September i think. I can recall that an ex hurricane was coming in after sunset, i was sat outside with a gusty but very warm wind ahead of the system with a layer of cirrostratus just starting to move in. As i sat there i saw this odd flash in the sky, it was round white in the middle then yellow around the sides, looked like a very powerful strobe light off a plane but tremendously bigger (to my north). I discarded it untill i noticed another, this time it was to my south not on the horizon but fairly high. So i sat there watching the skies now joined by my neighbours, these strange strobes carried on in completely random positions of the sky with varying time between them. I spoke to other people in a wide area of the midlands who also saw them on this night. To this day i have no idea what they were, the only conclusion i can come to is that with the very windy and turbulent atmospherics, the ice crystals of the high cloud in some way became charged, or even the atmosphere itself, it was certainly very warm that night. These flashes were nothing like lightning, they were round and went off like a strobe but gone as quick.

[Les]

HI All,
Ive often heard of strange falls from the sky such as frogs ,fish ,stones,coins,seeds even dung -in fact neary everything has been observed falling from both clear and cloudy skies.I can vouch for this as once in October 1990 (cant remember the exact date)I witnessed a bizzare fall of what appeared like small clay like pellets (smaller than a pea)near the centre of Edinburgh.It was a light shower but I could hear them hitting the the ground and bouncing off cars.It only lasted a few minutes and seemed to be restricted to a small area of the cul de sac I was in.It was cloudy but not dull and calm at the time.Weird [dunno] .
Regards Les.

[Chris Walker]

Hi i remember one night last year (dates i cannot remember) my mum called me up to inform me that she was watching "red lightning" she also said that this was not high up in the sky but about midway just above the houses (she lives on a slight slope)she said she had never seen this before and that it had like a calmin effect on her as it was so pretty to watch. I thought at this point oh god she's drunk lol. However next day in the papers there was a article about st elmos fire happening nearly 100 miles from her could this be related. unfortunatly i lived too far from her to be able to see anything. I would just be able to give her an answer to her question as to what it could have been. Oh this was on a clear night.

[brshort716]

It was reported in 2006 that a large chunk of ice fell out of the sky near Los Angeles, CA. They thought it might have fallen from an airplane, but similar incidents have occurred in Scotland.

As far as silent lightning: It happens quite often here, almost always on warm, muggy evenings. The lightning is often constant so the sky is constantly lit up, but you don't hear the thunder because the air is so heavy and the wind is coming from the south while the lightning is west of you.. so you hear nothing but the crickets and frogs and it's very comfortably warm outside with a warm breeze and plenty of light. It makes a nice evening to sit out on the deck.

[Sammie]

I have a really weird story, to be honest, I don't know what the hell went on really I don't know much about weather…I just sorta love weather and have always been fascinated by it since I was a kid. I live in Helensburgh, Scotland just west of Glasgow. I was sitting in my bedroom and it was New Years Eve 06 going in to 07 about four o’clock in the afternoon and there was a few bolts of lightening flying round in the air and a bit of thunder but it was way down river sitting over Dunoon. Then it went dark outside, like real quick and everything went silent, so I thought it was kinda strange so I got up and looked out the window, and for about five seconds it was completely calm…then a huge wind kick up, all the small ornaments at the bottom of the garden got picked up and out bbq got flung across the garden. Then it stopped just as suddenly. I thought it was kinda strange until I got a phone call from my friend who lives two blocks behind me, she said what ever it was looked like a funnel cloud, but she couldn’t tell if it had actually touched the ground, so us being the stupid teenagers we are decided to walk the path she had seen it take from her house to mine, and there were snapped trees…like not snapped at the bottom but like half way up. On top of that there wasn’t just one, there was ten or twenty of the smaller trees like that, all snapped at the same height, and facing away from each other and they hadn’t been like that in the morning when we walked her dog. What ever it was only lasted around twenty thirty seconds, we didn’t really think it could have been a tornado or a funnel cloud because there is no history of them in our area (at least in living memory) however there was a confirmed funnel cloud less than quarter of a mile away in August!

[Nigel Bolton]

Possible small topographically induced tornado. Conditions were right for these at this time of day.

Glasgow Hurricane of 15th-16th jan 1968 spawned much stronger topographical tornadoes, these causing extensive trails of damage. Over 20 people were kiled in Glasgow on this night as old tenement buildings collapsed.

Gusts to over 100 mph were also recorded on the Clyde on this night.

N.

[Sammie]

Oh wow thank you! I didn't know about the 1968 storm, shall do some reading up on it, thank you very very much.