30th April 2018 WOTW II Director's Cut!

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Monday 30th 51-49F, 11-9C, bright overcast start with gales. 40mph winds with heavy rain forecast for later. I was literally leaning on the wind on my walk. The birds were fighting for control too. Luckily I just made it home before the first shower.

Very odd cloud formations to the south just before 11am as the sky was split into bars. Down below the sky looked angry and almost violet.

Mid-morning things became really weird. The southerly sky turned into dark, sharply defined bands as it became darker and darker by the minute. After ten minutes outside, capturing the strange sky, the gales have dropped to zero. As we retreated indoors it soon turned to thunder and torrential rain and hail outside. The hail was stacking up on the greenhouse roof.

I had taken three, short videos of the sky. But when I tried to play the first there was no picture but a heavily distorted, alien voice-over. The Panasonic software told me there was an error and broke off the download. Yet, strangely, the videos would open in Windows Media Player if I "Opened file." Very odd indeed.

Soon it was so dark indoors we needed to put the lights on just to see across the room. Cars are still racing along the road leaving wakes as they rush to their own. Hail and rain continue to fall to almost continuous loud thunder and local lightning flashing flashes.

A slightly later image of the sky towards the southwest. Darker and rougher clouds were sliding under the clearly defined bars still crossing the sky. It was all a bit WOTW without the infantile, Hollywoohoo, pseudo-scientific bullshit.

Had it not been so windy I was actually planning a 20 mile cycle ride today.

The Danish Meteorological Institute website is bang right up to date and showing a band of lightning-filled, heavy rain crossing Denmark on its radar. The bad weather took a little over an hour to pass over before the sky slowly brightened to the south. Steady rain was still falling. While jagged flashes of lightning, accompanied by heavy thunder, are still rumbling away just to our north.

Even after six pm, it was still pouring down. Though the winds have fallen light. With the entire length of the drive under standing water. The DMI recorded 11,000 lightning strikes today. With several houses set on fire or had their wiring damaged. Germany has had its warmest April since records began in 1881 and the UK its warmest April in nearly 70 years. 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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