Thunderstorm 9/29/2008 Del Mar, CA

[Tonnuxmir]

Humm, strange cloud. It does'nt like a Cb cloud. And so strikes to earth and nothing in the cloud or cloud-cloud, or cloud-air! Is this a Cb cloud? Seems to me an image manipulation, but sorry, may be I'm wrong and it is a rare thunder condition!

[jctabo]

@Tonnuxmir There's no image manipulation other than cutting out sections with no lightning. See my other video in which this footage was used in the weather report on the local San Diego Fox News that evening. The lightning strike they reported that took out a tree on the golf course is below the cloud in the video. I don't know what kind of cloud it is though.

[Tonnuxmir]

@jctabo Thank you for your answer, jctabo

[KCspur92]

That has to be the smallest low pressure thunderstorm I have ever seen...

[skateboy159]

high base thunderstorm thats why it looks small

[josecitoperecito]

i also saw one like this before, it made thunder and lightning. and it was srsly short, only lasted like 1-5 minutes. it then started decaying into a fibry cumulus cloud and then into a cirrus fibratus cloud. it was a cumulonimbus calvus in my case as well.

[josecitoperecito]

hmm, that cumulonimbus cloud is pretty small. was the thunderstorm decaying?

[jctabo]

@josecitoperecito That's as big as it ever got - but it was decaying.

[governer180]

How much power that little cloud could have

[axelBGful]

Very short cumulonimbus (or cumulus?)!!!

[TheUtahraptor1]

@axelBGful Well it is making lightning, so cumulonimbus

[TheUtahraptor1]

Really short Cb calvus, its still a cumulonimbus because it has a wispy top made of ice crystals

[beegbolt]

Strong little f%!^c!r of a T-shower !! Beautiful.

[maxik444]

wtf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WorldTranceSociety]

Very weird, the height of the cloud is not very big. I've never seen a small and active storm like this one.

[illkill558]

its in SD

[michaz3409]

very small storm

[asilaydyingdl]

That is a high base, shallow Cumulonimbus, people. The reason for it's high base is low atmospheric moisture content, at least at the surface. The dewpoint was probably only around 45 or 50 degrees. Also, their was likely a cold pocket aloft associated with a nearby low pressure system or baroclinic zone, hence the shallow nature of the cloud. When the air is colder than normal in the mid and upper atmosphere, you get icing at lower levels, hence you can get lightning from shorter clouds.

[Jerone079]

amazing storm..

[AusJMR85]

smallest storm i've ever seen

[coolgirl487231]

that looks like a tornado

[TheShepherd111]

That is AMAZING!

[jarhead565]

How is that possible with CG lightning when the base of the cloud is at high altitudes? (I'm just judging it at around 10,000ft AGL)

[Anthony15481]

Some Small Cumulus can produce rain like this.. It's not to rare especailly in the High deserts of California.

[gogpoydi]

That's not cumlinumbus

[chargerfish1]

wow thats weird it doesn't even look like a cumulonimbus, no anvil.

[SMITEM1]

I've never seen that before, a tiny cloud with rain and lightning, weird.... Now THATS a weather PHENOMENAE

[TheBurkshire]

How serene!!

[1MTSRider]

Nice video and editing. I remember this cell, watched it that morning from my backyard patio in Mira Mesa. Took several photos of the cell with different light settings. I'll find the photos and load them on you tube.

[meteorman96]

this is the tiniest cumulonimbus cell with lightning ive ever seen! looks like another cell was building to the left of it

[andreiwindstorm]

how the hell such a small cloud like this can even produce lightining after all??

[StefanSauzuk]

wow!!! excelent report! seems a little but powerful electrical storm. Greetings from Catamarca, Argentina.

[MultiKenny64]

lol first i thought : pah this is not a thunderstorm cloud, thunderstorm clouds look much different (lightning), wait, wtf??

[VampireWeirdo1234]

@lionsforlyons but i'm not your friend, we didn't meet before this reply of yours :)

[jenimarie69]

scary

[FussiOB]

It's funny how the ligthning kinda follows the rain :o)

[Dgkman2004]

wow i didnt no stroms could be so small

[LEGOACDC123]

is that a tornado or super heavy rain?

[jctabo]

@LEGOACDC123 It's not a tornado - it's just rain.

[josecitoperecito]

@jctabo awesome how the wind is pushing the rain.

[smashkin92]

@LEGOACDC123 I think extra mega super ultra heavy rain

[organisten]

incredible - the cloud doesn't seem that big at all, and yet the electromagnetics are quite intense. I wouldn't have thought such a small cloud could be so productive!

[thunder7675745]

Ok, thanks, yeah i wasn't sure so I was just wondering. Great video of the thunderstorm, it's one of a kind !

[thunder7675745]

What is that thing that goes zipping by at 0:38, it comes from the bottom of the screen and then exits of to the right.

[thunder7675745]

What is that thing that goes sipping by at 0:38, it comes from the botton of the screen and then out to the right of the video.

[jctabo]

@thunder7675745 It was a hummingbird, I recall it flying by while i was video taping.

[christiangirl878]

@thunder7675745 probally a bug

[The2010blueangel]

THAT WAS SO COOL FROMA SMALL CLOUD JUST TO SEE THAT HAPPEN IN WOW GREAT VIDEO

[flutiwaxene]

amazing

[marcin67ziomal]

its nice mini cumulonimbus storm

[23thunderstorm]

this an awsome thunderstorm.

A small cell can bring big time thunderstorms (:

[Randoman35]

Whoa how'd you start recording so accurately before the lightning struck?

[jctabo]

@Randoman35 I was watching the lightning for a while before I started to take a video of it. The strikes were pretty regular. There was a lightning strike or multiple strikes every 1.5-2 minutes. I edited out the dead time between strikes. There are several clips put together.

[Robloxgirl11]

@jctabo I think you have a tornado 0.0

[StormChaserNick]

wow! this is great! reminds me of a Warren Faidley shot

[MegaRandom4ever]

I live in san diego don't rember this.

[jctabo]

@MegaRandom4ever Check out the Channel 5 News coverage with clips from my video youtube.com/watch?v=iv161pknZj­s

[GSDubz]

Did they go into explaining how that much energy could be produced from such a small cell? Very nice capture!

[IVIrYumYums]

i remember that i live near there and i remember my dad calling me and saying look and it was just one little cloud with rain coming down from it and lots of thunder and lightning it was cool

[VampireWeirdo1234]

A small cloud = Thunderstorm? I bet this is fake or i just see things.

[jctabo]

@VampireWeirdo1234

It's not fake - the local news coverage of it on the other video on this account used my footage.

[CougarBloom]

That is a neat thunderstorm. Very small, but it looks powerful.

[VampireWeirdo1234]

@CougarBloom i agree the same thing :)

[MrA240]

Tiny cloud to form such powerful stuff! And even strange is that the weather was fine except for that!!

[tubalador]

just from one cloud? Thar's awesome!!!

[metalheadoooo]

Scattered.

[Dvoracekmara]

Nice cloud and lighting!!!

[ExtremeSpinner99]

I like it very much, excellente capture. This is a cumulonimbus calvus with low precipitation and lightning.

[BurnoutRacer2009]

we cant say that a thunderstorm because it is very tiny!

[IAmSoWeird100]

as long as it has lightning coming out of it its a thunderstorm. It is a very small thunderstorm, but it obviously had a lot of moisture and movement to cause lightning.

[StormWild475]

@BurnoutRacer2009,The cloud is tiny,because those clouds are called thunder heads,they don't need to be big.

[IAmSoWeird100]

i remember that thunderstorm, it woke me up on a morning i was sleeping in!

[StormWild475]

I love lighning,it's one of the coolest things.

[redrdr4life]

Haha dont you mean one of the hottest things... LOL.

[StormWild475]

Yeah ok,you're right,like they say,lightning is white fire and yes it is very hot,don't touch it..lol..Lightning can be scary,but it is very cool looking...one of natures best gifts,for us humans to look at!!!!!!!!!! :)

[StormWild475]

@redrdr4life,jeez man,did you ever get my reply,what are you some kind of idiot!!!

[bahraini10]

WoOoOoOoOoOoOoW

[StormWild475]

thats some intense lightning.

[skateboy159]

thats a low thunderstorm

[Hochnebel1]

das gewitter hatte kaum fallstreifen aber trotzdem war es blitzaktiv. solche knaller sind besonders tückisch.

[packerfan10]

I look at this again and you can learn a lot from the vid. You noticed the concentration of the main strikes of lightning where near the rain shaft.

[redrdr4life]

Yea I notice that too

[fixierider97]

I wish those were over near the bay area

[54spiritedwill54]

me too! at least we got some thunderstorm activity here back in September 12, 2009 :) Luckily I managed to capture some of it on film.

[danpow2003]

stunning, for such a small cloud, but there is not tornado, its the downburst of rain, its jt the rain falling you see, in many showers you can see the rain against the sky, depending on how heavy it is makes it darker, such a little burst of rain from this cloud to, most unusual

[myname466]

thats really small is it a microburst?

[kbeano7]

why does the lightning touch the ground every time??

[almabeer]

OMG i live in carmel Valley and i never saw a tornado

[jamespianogarbage]

looks like a tornado formed from it

[real0988]

Very unusual storm the truth .. surprisingly much power accumulated in a small cloud. The more local storm I've witnessed :-o

[jumbo04]

High base, low top... nice capture!

[Onweergek]

WOW! I've never seen such a high based, small thunderstorm producing so much CG's. Insane... Thats a very mean little thunderstorm..

[Hurricane765]

The little storm cell that could XD

[clarius1973]

This t-storm is very uncommon... the cumulonimbus doesn't have an anvil... and there are plenty of C-G strikes even if the cloud is very little and isolated... very strange.

[highdeserthater]

happens alot in the mariana circle.

[necridos]

I've seen that happen in Calgary before too.

[gubban159]

utterly cool, considering the infrequency of this weather in cali. beautiful early a.m. lighting, a rare and feisty little storm, and a great view of the event = five stars, yeah!

[jrfan07]

not much precip in that little cell, not to mention its so tiny!, yet so many C-G strikes!, this is awesome i wish i could see a storm like this:D

[crankdat209]

is not that likely that we do have thunderstorm in socal

[highdeserthater]

move to hesperia and you get plenty.

[crankdat209]

how do you know

[highdeserthater]

i live zere.

[54spiritedwill54]

wow this is awesome video! love lightning!

[devontls]

wow i never knew such a small convective cell could produce multiple CG lightning like that!

[TJLan86]

i remember waking up to that storm... i live in rancho penasquitos...

[Staccato26]

Wow! That fluffy little cell is smaller than the average convective shower and its throwing out CGs galore...  Noice!!

[New023]

wow, i cant believe a small cloud produces all that lightning! 5.5 spectactular!

[Weatherfrog123]

Son kleines Gewitter! Süß! HAts aber in sich! TOLL!

[MDHmodder]

wtf that thing is only like 5k feet tall

[LaserDarkDX]

Dry lightning at it's best!

[Jaanfo]

I was on an Amtrak train descending the hill in Miramar when I saw (and videoed) this storm, got two lightning bolts. Also took a large number of pictures. It was a fascinating storm, being small and potent. Kinda cool and unusual for the area. Thanks for the better coverage then I was able to get!

[Jamiesyme999]

wow never seen one like that in my parts, so high based small and that teeny little core

[Hinezy77]

Fantastic video! I've never seen such a high based storm cloud produce CG lightning like that! Amazing.. with such a small precip area as well! 5 Stars.

[Wolkenfahnderin]

*G*R*E*A*T*!

5 Stars for this video!

[84sammy48]

ha i live here. thunder5storms r rare. once or twice a yr

[csengeri]

Looking forward to photograph something like this in the next summer! Amazingly beautiful!

[txstoryteller]

Pretty!

[stormspinner1]

Lot of lightning in that little cloud: gorgeous! Five stars.

Hope you'll be a friend to the ...

*StormSpinner1* in Texas

[csengeri]

WHOAAA!

Best thunderstorm capture ever seeeeeen!

Five stars!

[aj400ox]

Good capture intense lightning for such a small storm.

[Mesocyclone33]

Very nice shots, cumulus congestus producing lightning isnt common in Socal but yea that was awesome. The only ones to predict that chain of thunderstorms associated with a cutoff low was the Ontario Weather Service.

[packerfan10]

That was nice. I got a warm microburst in Whittier that day :).

[supercell1995]

i have never seen a cloud that small producing lightning! cool video.

[bhizzy14]

WOW thats tight! That was A tiny cloud to be making ligntning like that!

[jctabo]

There was a lightning strike or multiple strikes every 1.5-2 minutes. It was quite impressive - they used clips from my video that night and the next night on the local news.

[Silverwolfstarz]

very nice

[shaneallen1982]

that was a small thunder cloud but lots of cgs

[csfuller]

Very nice.

A lot of action from just one cloud.

Quite impressive.