Phenomenal Thunder from large Lightning Discharge (Storm #0011)

[emixam101]

wow sick !!!!

[Koaslice191]

BLOODY HELL!

[mikedwn]

To clarify: Rolls and rumbles from lightning channels do not give polarity, neither for cracks or whips. The higher the input the lower the pitch it produces. Those cracks heard on the video purely exhibit that the strike was close to the observer. . Rumbles and rolls of thunder are the effects of segments of the channel being expanded, and the resultant noise reaches a person and we hear it as rumbles or rolls. The observer's location to the visible lightning channel gives different sounds

[MultiKenny64]

try to believe would would have happended with your ears if the lighting would have been closer oO

[mikedwn]

The sound of thunder represents nothing to do with the type of strike it was. Thunder is thunder whether it is from IC, Cg or whatever. The length of the thunder boom etc does tell you how long the lightning channel would have been and your positioning to the strike however. So saying it's a positive strike is just incorrect - even saying it's a negative strike is incorrect just by the thunder.

[SimoWill75]

@mikedwn

Sorry but have to disagree with you. Telling the diff between CG and CC.. yes you are right.. you can't.

But the huge amounts of power needed for a 'positive' AG (Anvil-Ground) strike to occur and the extreme long length of the strike lead to much more percussive thunder developing than with the usual short relatively low powered CG strike.

Was this strike 'positive' ? No idea as I wasn't there to compare to the rest of the storm. wikipediadotorg/wiki/Lightning­#Positive_lightning

[LonelyLonelyLoner]

how do u measure the distance of a thunder??

[Envergure]

@LonelyLonelyLoner Count the seconds between the flash and the boom, and multiply by the speed of sound. It's 1 km for every three seconds, or one mile for every five seconds.

[boundaryzero]

im positive thats positive....

[TheTRancel0ver]

Loud pulsive  thunderwave!!

[hoppel089]

omfg!

[Koaslice191]

BLOODY HELL! THAT was a real BUZZ!

[300man04]

Holy shit what is that metal creaky sound at 0:10

[djlimit48]

that must have been a massive storm with some amps

[lambtikaphall]

the reason for the ''bomb sounding'' thunder is that the bolt may well have struck a good conductor such as copper, meaning many thousands more amps would have been able to flow due to low resistivity. and obvs the more amps, the more hotter the bolt would have been. and if this combines with a bolt from the upper levels of the anvil, you'll get a serious bang !!

[djlimit48]

massive amps there then nice

[undertaker4fan]

awesome, great thunder

[Nata2700]

if you pause it at 0:01 it looks really really bright

[medfordORlightning]

i have a thunder clap in my video where u can hear the metalic sound also! check it out! =)

[StudioGhibliFan22966]

#OMG

[spongersurfer]

:-o that was amazing! Sounds like someone is getting whipped by a huuuge cane!

I heard thunder a lot like this during a winter storm as a potent cold front came moved NE across the Isle of Wight.

[bluebolt86]

I saw a documentary once which investigated why positive bolts occur, and why they are rarer than negative ones. Also, a study was carried out and there was a far higher proportion of positive charges in W and NW Europe (inc UK) than anywhere else in the world.

I can vouch for the fact I have seen many positive bolts in the past, with that kind of thunder. In fact there was a positive bolt in July 09, storm was miles away but this huge flash occurred, and the bomb like thunder was incredible

[GigaPikachu9]

sound of siren at the end?

[GigaPikachu9]

0`02-0`10 is 8second ~ 2640 meters

[GigaPikachu9]

I like it ... Positive lighting ... WOW sound ... OMG ... recorded audio is poor for sound , You must heart sound in nature . First time When I heard this sound I was scared to death ~ During Thunderstorm I opened Window xD Nice sound / WAVE

[GermanFireFighter95]

!!!WOW!!! very nice sound 5*****

[ColBuzby]

that's weird how it makes the cracking sound...the rumbling is what you mostly hear. It sounds like a garbage truck falling from the empire state building and hitting the ground.

[DrDiddle]

Holy lightning bolts, Batman!  That was loud! Good filming!

[JonnyProductions]

Holy thunder!

[poopsyproductions]

well, the closer a lightning strike the more it sounds like a crack. But this one seemed more powerful but nonetheless can't say myself it was positive or not.

[ravenstormcouk]

well no-one can really, unless you were measuring it. The thunder seemed to last for 20-30 seconds suggesting the shear radial area of the lightning, and coupled with the explosiveness suggests upper-cloud origins, hence +ve. But yeah, you're right, it may not have been. -ve C-C tends to be really weak and crackley, despite the distance away.

[lavalizard3]

Awesome power. I love storms:-D

[GuitarHero2131]

me 2 i've been waiting for one to come to my house for weeks but haven't had one raindrop :(

[SevereTstormFan]

That is so cool.

[AeroStorm911]

amazing audio!

[QwAdr0x256]

whoa, it sounds like an car accident

[JohnnyL8]

Thunder signature is typical of a multi-stroke NEGATIVE CG discharge originating from a mid-level negative charge centre most likely given the timings. Quite short in spatial length-about 6 miles long minimum, main channel just over 1 mile away. Typical sound of a relatively high current discharge of many tens of kA (likely over 100 kA), but it's difficult to say what the current rise time is which is more important. Rare, but not that high on the global thunder-loudness scale believe it or not.

[randommagnum]

Tell me if you think this one might be a positive flash:

/watch?v=l9t3v9qB1wk

[Pachequistica]

Never heard of anything like this before. those "explotions" are really cool.

[masterblaster1978]

I filmed one a month ago, but i was inside so it sounds not as good as your video

[NarleyDude07]

awesome man

[chargrilledcharlie]

That is one angry storm!! It sounds like a succession of bombs going off!!

[loudinkpink]

wow -- that thunder was unbelievable!

[Mattbaugh]

That was some immense lightning, I only live a stone throw away down in Stockport.

[terrijane61]

Sweet!

[silentian85]

Been in a building (windows open) that was struck by lightning and believe the bang was louder then that. When i say bang that is what i mean, it was many year ago when i was at school and the whole class thought a bomb had gone off - that was until the teacher explained it was lightning.

The explosion set of car alarms and the vibrations were felt even in the 1st floor class room.

[CHDAVISNZ]

Hi Mark,

Awesome, light sound, powerful, thank you for sharing this, love it.

[Onweergek]

i've also heard many, and powerfull CC's, but never one that sounded like that. but remember... if this was a real CC... the the lightning has (like any other strikes) travel through the whole channel.. then the beginning thunder should also be sounding loud right?

[Onweergek]

i find it also very suspicious that... the first bolt is very bright.. the following (when we can see the piece of CC) is les bright.. it may be a positive cloud ground with some CC connection, wich CG+ often has. however... I'm in Oklahoma, but I have seen and heard positive strikes, but i've never heard one sounding like this. anyway.. nice catch, but I'm not sure if there is a ground connection or not... i think there is though..

[JVCULATR]

That was seriously loud. It's that metallic sound that is seriously good! Great you've caught it on film man! Is that a car alarm you can hear after?

[ravenstormcouk]

several car alarms

[GoatBarn]

Wow! Don't know what was scarier, the results or the initial "strike" causing the pop in your audio!m-

[dyunak]

probably a positive lightining bolting, yesterday I saw a documentary about it ;)

[detroitballer86]

lightning bolts come in different kinds of intensity, I've seen lightning bolts that were really close (less than a second away) and didn't sound so huge relative to the distance that they were at, this must've been a big one.

[WishMaster101]

thats nothing last night a bolt twice as wide as that came within like half a mile of me. it was intense. I was literally in the center of a lightening storm.

[Ironmaidenrock4eva]

what the fuck were you doing in the middle of a T-storm.

[syncplay]

Thinking about the nature of a positive flash, and hearing that sound gave me the chills! Now, can you imagine having one hit within, say, 500 feet? That'd be a little more than I'd want, thank you.

[MediaNexus]

Jeez that was a big electrical field!

I've seen lightning produce thunder that was EXTREMELY loud, but not positive-flash. I live in Florida so that kind of stuff is not to unusual :D

[detroitballer86]

Damn!, after all that time it still sounded like a bomb, it could've been a positive. We get those sometimes here in michigan they're rare and they happen after lightning stopped flashing for a while at the end of the storm and all of sudden you see a big flash and takes a while to hear it but it's really deep and loud that's probably how you can tell if it's a positive.

[BryanBeatsYouAll]

It was probably a positive bolt, b/c it was pink. Normal strikes are negative and have a bluish glow. Positive bolts are 10 times more powerful and have louder thunder.

[ravenstormcouk]

Yeah it did have Upper-anvil origins (usually where the Positive lightning originates) because of the duration of the thunder. It's only pink because thats how my old video camera sees lightning in the dark (it was actually blue when I saw it).

[BryanBeatsYouAll]

hmmmm...

[ravenstormcouk]

the colour of the lightning streak is dependant on the context of the atmosphere it's travelling through. The blue glow is the natural spectrum of colour from our Nitrogren/Oxygen mix. Colour of Lightning from a far distance can be "filtered" by other things such as dust, dry/moist air, and precipitation. Visible light (from a lightning) passing through hail bands is thought to give it a greeny colour (similar to how hail-laden T-clouds cause "greenage").

[sunniebg]

This is insane. What a wicked planet we live on...

[whites90]

lightning gives off the same energy as about 300,000 tons of TNT

[KrystalFrizz]

That thunder was kinda loud... but seriously, you HAVE to check this strike out...it's from a storm that happened where I live just this past week, and it had lightning unlike I've ever seen before, and loud explosive thunder... /watch?v=a-h3eY9GF30

[ravenstormcouk]

thats a pretty hairy vid! Thats loud & explosive because it was litterally down the road lol (and C-Gs are generally explosive up close)

[masterblaster1978]

Holy crap. Great bang. I'd like to call it sonic thunder when it sounds like this. Great vid.

[rusty2552]

so loud but not a very close lightning strike right

[ravenstormcouk]

yeah! imagine how loud it wud have been if it were closer!

[Accavarium]

it sounds so fuckin loud, and btw i think these are the sirens.

[ravenstormcouk]

they were indeed car alarms on my street (on the other side of the house) going off!

[Haeinscute]

I think it is funny when you get the extremely loud thunder that sounds like an explosion then it sets off car alarms.

[WillieDines1]

There is almost a sonic boom type explosion to this clip, because there is a whislte-like sound to the initial shock waves.

MAN I wish I had been there to hear that, I've been smiling right round to the back of my head with that one :D

Top rating always :D

[6V92TA]

fucks almighty. Now thats a nice collection of thunder clapping action. Ive only been in one storm that i could remember here in Ohio with over charged C to C strikes. The thunder sounded alot like a few loaded TU-154s or 727s on take off. a very deep and house rattling rumble.

[mauwi101]

it sounds strange but cool :D

[WickedWings07]

Whenever I've seen lightning strike really close by, sometimes leading up to the thunder itself, there is a hissing sound that sounds almost like a fuse being set for a stick of dynamite...is there a reason for this? Just figured I'd ask xD

[ravenstormcouk]

might be the sound of the branches from the leader channel reaching your ears first (weaker faint strands that only last for a fraction of a second that come off the main bolt).

[boomaticaboom]

The thunder is loud

[mestamestaman]

the thunder noise in mass.(which were i lived)is usually few seconds long,but how long is this one?

[ravenstormcouk]

long! 30 seconds from initial bang to the finish of distant rumble - about 6 miles worth of lightning channel (suggesting upper-anvil origins).

[mestamestaman]

So, the longer is the thunder from where you are, the louder it get, or bigger the thunder the louder it gets(??????)

Which one? Please answer back...

[ravenstormcouk]

Eh? The longer the thunder the longer the lightning channel is. The closer the lightning is or the higher the power of a lightning, the louder the thunder.

[whites90]

Neither it's the closer the louder the bigger the louder. Combinations of both produce stuff like in this video

[mestamestaman]

The closer the lighting is, the louder it is.

[syncplay]

The closer the lightning, the shorter time between the flash and the thunder blast.

The longer the rumble after, the taller (or longer) the lightning bolt itself.

Thunder also gets louder as lightning gets closer, but if you have one that's far away but it's still way loud, then it's BIG power.

[pinkorange12]

well i never knew that,thanks

[carbf1942]

wow that thunder was wow i have never heard such a sound

i would probably shit my self if i ever heard that great clip

[200twistatwista]

Wat it was a good clip anyway yup yup.

[blinkingblythe]

Damn! That had someone's roof(?) shaking like crazy. :)

[haroldtampa]

Sweet video. Nasty thunder. What was the humming noise afterward.

[ravenstormcouk]

car alarms all down my street (behind the camera on other side of the house).

[plateshutoverlock]

I heard a faint buzz right when the bolt hit, so there must';ve been a very good sized e-field in the area.

[ravenstormcouk]

yeah a good pop noise on the audio track

[potkettle]

Am I right in saying that as it produced more of a sudden bang than a thunderous roll, it was a fairly short length spark? I love the high frequency component of that first blast. Sounds like it made someone's roof shake!

[ravenstormcouk]

no the length of the lightning channel is generally determined by the length of the thunder (typically), in which case this was VERY long and must have had upper-level origins. (5 seconds = 1 mile, so this was at least 5-6 miles long)

[potkettle]

Thanks. So even though I was wrong in this case, the general principle is correct.

Can you explain the abbreviations I-C and P-F that you use in the description?

[ravenstormcouk]

Intra-Cloud (Sheet) and P-F (Positive Flash). A P-F is a C-G only 5 times the length and coming from the top of the cloud rather than through it's base. :)

[whites90]

and about 5 times as much energy than a negative