Intracloud lightning at dusk as the storm passes over.
Posting two thunderstorm recordings this year isn't an indication that we've had a hot, dry summer; in fact it's just the opposite! Since late June we've had almost constant cold, damp weather here in the UK, and I've not done any sound recording since my Hafren forest trip. Only during the past week have we had a few warm, humid days, ideal conditions for building the tall cumulonimbus clouds necessary for thunder.
This thunderstorm was quite unusual in that all of the lightning occurred within the clouds, with no direct strikes to ground as far as I could tell. Most of the lightning just lit up the clouds from behind, with only a few strikes directly visible. To the right in the above photo (a 10 second exposure), a very interesting nebulous form can be seen, too. Since all of the lightning was several km away, high in the clouds, the thunder claps were all quite diffuse, sounding almost like a continuous drum roll at times.
As with the previous thunderstorm, this was recorded from the loft doorway of a barn, allowing me to keep the microphones well out of the rain. The recording is slightly longer that most, since I wanted to include the whole storm, including the first drops of very heavy rain and hail on the barn roof and foliage. Ravens and Crows fly over and we also hear one or two sheep, startled by the sudden rain. As the storm builds there is a period of torrential rain for a few minutes. Then, as it slowly passes over and dusk falls, the rain slackens and a few birds (Blackbird & Robin) re-emerge with their evening calls.
Recorded: 2023-09-10 from approx 1925LT
Reference level: 0dB FS = 100dB SPL
Download full length recording:
45 min, 105MB, .ogg format
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