Severe thunderstorm - Dublin - 1997

highdef

Here's a video of the biggest thunderstorm I have ever witnessed in Ireland....at night time to boot. I think it was Sunday evening, the 10th of August 1997. I remember it had been a very still and muggy evening. The first distant flashes were seen several hours before the storm arrived properly. Even after the main part of the storm passed over, thunder could be heard to the north for a couple of hours and lightning for a few hours after. The storm came from the south and appeared to be a multicell type. It skirted the east coast and just inland. The video was taken from my bedroom in my parents house. In the video, the 3 main close flashes and bangs start a little before the 10 minute mark. The third flash caused extensive damage to a row of houses just over 100 metres away, to my rear. Damage was done to the roof of one house and all television sets were blown in the block of 6. You can tell that the lightning is extremely close as the thunder begins before the lightning has finished flashing. Quality is not great as the camera is of mid 1980's vintage. Audio is not good either....just lo-fi mono. Better than nothing though. The camera is generally pointing in a northeasterly direction and the location is Baldoyle, D13, just over 1km from the coast.
It's worth watching the whole video to see (and hear) the storm getting closer and closer. At some stages lightning was flashing every few seconds. Hope you enjoy, despite the poor quality. If you chose to watch in 720 or 1080P, the quality is a little bit better with less blockiness.

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

Harps

Great video, some of the bangs around the 10 minute mark are crazy!

I'd love to experience a storm like that, been years since I've seen a storm come even close. We had a great one here about 10-12 years ago during the summer with plenty of fork lightning but don't think it was as bad as that one

Iancar29

WOuld love to know what i was feckin doing that day?! I remember a good few thunderstorms but never one as long as that?... i was only 8 at the time though . My dad has LOADS of family videos even that far back , i might try see did he get any of this!

May i share the video? .. the bolt hitting the nearby house was class! ha... Bet u wished u had a DSLR camera back then for full HD?... i know id be going mad ha

highdef

Ah sure HD had not been invented so I wasn't missing out You can share away on the video. It's down as public so spread it around. I've updated my original post with a likely date for this storm. I'm not sure how far inland the storm got....I know you'd be a few kilometres inland compared to me then and those few kilometres can mean the world of difference when it comes to thunderstorms.

Oh, and I wish I had had the camera pointing out the back bedroom window....could you imagine the shot I would have got of a bolt of forked lightning about 100 metres away!!!!

TOMP

I recall in Cork in the mid 80's there was a huge thunderstorm, and next day there was a picture in the Cork Examiner of large number of cattle lying dead underneath a tree they had taken shelter under.

Harps

July 1985 probably, supposedly the most severe day of thunderstorms in living memory

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=296970

Deep Easterly

Classic video.

Very 'plume' like set up as well that night: