Huge storms you've been caught up in

[Weststander]

Driving along from Ovingdean to Btn in a big old Peugeot Estate in a storm, 4 in the morning at 70mph, car getting blown across lanes, wipers going at full bast with no effect because the rain is lashing upwards off the cliffs and momentary losses of steering as wind lifted all the weight off the car in gusts of over 100+. Loved it!! Biblical weather is life affirming.

Was that in the October 87 storm?

 

[Weststander]

Winter 77-78ish,a two week blow in the Iceland gap, doing secret stuff, roughest sea I saw in 15 years at sea, no hot food, strapped into your bed to sleep, numerous injuries to the crew from being thrown about.
We got back to Rosyth, anything not actually welded to the ships superstructure had gone, the breakwaters on the forecastle(the sharp end) had been bent flat, and, the best bit, the barrels on both our 4.5 inch guns, the big ones on the front, were bent out of true. We had to have a six week mini re-fit.

Did you ever find the Soviet sub's?

 

[lawros left foot]

Did you ever find the Soviet sub's?

If I told you, I'd have to kill you

 

[Bob'n'weave]

Was that in the October 87 storm?

No, would have been about 2010/12. That stretch of road is particularly exposed and gets huge gusts in windy weather/storms.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Following on from the Crap BH Weather, what are the worst storms you've been caught up in?

Three for me come to mind. The first being the same as most and the 'hurricane' in October 87.

1984 on the Costa Brava (Lloret), where a cloudburst went on for about 20/30 minutes and totally flooded the place, cops in the street trying to get some traffic order with their trousers rolled up above their knees!

2001 South Carolina, a mental tropical style electrical storm, the rain almost hurt when it hit you and the lightning was hitting many wooden houses, most are built of wood in the deep south. Sirens, cops, fireman, ambulances all over the place, totally chaotic.

Not near Hilton Head in May 2001 was it ?

 

[BensGrandad]

Apparently very bad storms last night but I wouldnt know as it didnt wake me or wife up.

 

[dingodan]

Sonus festival 2013 on Pag Island in Croatia. Never seen anything like it, I had to swim back to my apartment!

 

[desprateseagull]

I somehow slept through the 'big one', in 1987..

Do remember working one Xmas Eve, early 2000's, when it was pishing hard, strong winds.. boss wouldnt stop taking pizza orders, so we could catch up / dry off between deliveries..

almost lost a car door, when it opened and got caught by wind, on the seafront. Came close to quitting.

 

[crookie]

Driving through Mississippi in 2008, rain lashing down, heard tornado warnings on the local radio, on the freeway, had to pull over and stop as even with the wipers on full speed, I could barely see more than a couple of metres. Scary stuff

 

[Trufflehound]

Pukkelpop festival, Belgium, 2011.

Lovely sunny August afternoon until about 6pm. Then it started raining a little so Mrs Trufflehound and I abandoned our table outside the beer tent and took shelter in a tent stage to wait for Miles Kane to come on.

Then a couple of minutes later the sky went green, and the rain got heavier, so we sat in the dry laughing at the poor sods watching Skunk Anansie on the main stage who were now getting soaked.

Then the sky went pitch black (on a previously sunny summer afternoon), giant hailstones like golf balls started falling and hurting people, and then the wind came, and it stopped being funny. (At which point Skunk Anansie cut short their set and ran for it.)

At its peak the rain and hail was so thick the air outside went opaque and you could only see a couple of metres. When the wind got really serious, I seriously began to think (for the only time in my life) that this might be it. Our flimsy tent was going to be no match. We spent a few minutes crouching by the stage waiting for bits of metal and tree to come flying through the side wall and take everyone's heads off. Then we noticed the side wall of the tent bowing under the pressure and starting to cave in, so me and about about 30 other blokes ran over to brace against it. The tent roof was also sagging under the weight of the tons of water that were now on it, until some quick-witted guy fixed his penknife to the end of a pole and punched holes in the canvas to let the tons of water drain away. Otherwise the tent would have collapsed completely. (Why he had a knife in a music festival was another question, but it was handy that he did.)

It was all over in about 10 minutes, but in that time 36mm of rain had fallen. The previously dry field outside was 10cm deep in water. Some reports suggest the wind gusts peaked at 240km/h - damn nearly a tornado.

Even so, we didn’t realise at first how serious it was. When the wind dropped we were still expecting Miles Kane to play. But while he did appear on stage, all he could do was shrug and point at his sodden trashed equipment.

Outside, we discovered how lucky we had been. There were trees down everywhere, damage to everything. One other tent stage did collapse, killing one bloke inside. Some other poor sod was killed by flying debris right where we'd been drinking beer half an hour earlier. In the end there were 5 people dead and 140 injured, most of them hit by debris.

I was very happy that being old gits we were staying in a hotel and had a bed for the night. Elsewhere the campsite got trashed and 50,000 kids had nowhere to sleep. And yet just 1 km away in either direction there was no storm - it was that localised.

Just before it all started, I'd looked up at the sky and remarked to Mrs T how odd it was that the wind blowing the flags at ground level was heading in the opposite direction to the clouds. I have since learned that this is a sign that a cold front and a warm front have just met head on, and it’s time to take shelter… Apparently it meant there was a 14-km high storm stack right above our heads. I now know that’s quite bad news…



I was drunk during the October 87 storm and slept right through it.

 

[Albion my Albion]

I hate having to run after my rubbish bins in some storms.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Apparently very bad storms last night but I wouldnt know as it didnt wake me or wife up.

Not really bad storms but some very impressive lightning shows on the last train back from London mixed with some intermittent torrential rain.

 

[Husty]

Curry night gate

 

[Citrus]

Hurricane Matthew in Savannah, GA last year. Dusk 'til dawn curfew with Georgia National Guard Humvees cruising around downtown. Surreal.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Not near Hilton Head in May 2001 was it ?

Greenville, to be more precise, Taylors.