It was a wild and sleepless night over northern France and southern England as a thunderstorm system the size of Wales developed over France and tracked NNE over Southeast England last night. As thunderstorms erupted in the warm, juicy air over France late yesterday afternoon the cells clustered into a vast thunderstorm complex known as a mesoscale convective system (MCS).
The clash of cool, fresher air slamming into a very hot, humid air mass helped generate the storms.
This prolific night time lightning producer tracked NNE across the channel and hammered southern England too. At the height of the storm, cloud tops measured -75C with 465 lightning strikes PER MINUTE…
Liam Dutton
The focus of intense lightning was on the system’s southeast corner and so Sussex, Essex and Kent bore the brunt.
Amazing lightning show over the Channel and Dover Straits.
Folkestone, Kent
Credit: Phil Barnes
@PPBDover
As the MCS pushed through the Dover Straits, an automatic weather buoy recorded a wind gust of 83 mph (72 kts)
Met Office
The MCS reached Amsterdam Schiphol Airport with an incredible shelf cloud.
Credit: Rob’67
@RobAyrtonSenna
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