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Friday 21 September 2018

Thunderstorm

Thunder is the sound we hear from the sonic wave caused by the expansion of air that has been rapidly heated by lightning.

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The Norse God of Thunder, Thor, was also god of strength, agriculture, farmers, free men, rain and fertility. Thunder was supposedly created by the rolling wheels of his chariot, which was drawn by two goats called Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder.

In France in 1033 there was a mass panic that the one thousandth anniversary of the death and resurrection of Christ would result in the end of the world. Fears were heightened when terrific thunderstorms destroyed the crops in the spring resulting in widespread famine. Many people made public spectacles of repentance and many more embarked on pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

One hot July day in 1505, returning from his parents' home during a thunderstorm, Martin Luther was nearly struck by lightning. Frightened, he cried "help me St Anne and I will become a monk." To the surprise of his friends Luther joined the Augustian Hermits. He went on to study theology and ancient languages before starting the Protestant Reformation.


Benjamin Franklin's groundbreaking explorations of electricity included flying a kite with a metal key tied to the end of the string in a thunderstorm and collecting a charge in a Leyden jar when it was struck by lightning. From this he invented the pointed lightning rod conductor.

Benjamin West, English (born America) - Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity From the Sky

The hymn "Rock of Ages" was written by the Anglican curate, Reverend Augustus Toplady, after taking a walk at Burrington Combe, a steep limestone valley with many caves. A mighty thunderstorm blew up and the curate found an opening in an immense granite rock, in which he sheltered from the storm. This inspired the imagery of Christ in the hymn as a sheltering rock.

On July 26, 1959, Lt. Col William Rankin was on a high-altitude flight along the Carolina Coast with his wingman, Navy Lt. Herbert Nolan when he was forced to eject from his F-8 Crusader at 40,000 feet, into a thunderstorm. Rankin encountered very low temperatures, frostbite, massive wind and lightning, severe decompression, and nearly drowned from breathing in rain water, but survived. Overall, he was in the cloud for more than 40 minutes.


The Canadian city of Montreal was hit by a series of thunderstorms between the noon hour and 2:30 pm on July 14, 1987. Over 100 millimeters (3.9 in) of rain fell during this very short period of time, resulting in The Montreal Flood of 1987.

An average of 44,000 thunderstorms take place every day on our planet — with an around 1,800 thunderstorms in progress over the earth's atmosphere at any one moment.

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The most thundery place on Earth is said to be Tororo, Uganda, where it thunders 251 days a year.

The sound of thunder travels about 1,100 feet per second.

Fear of thunder is called 'brontophobia.' 


Thunderstorms have been known to curdle milk.

Source Daily Express

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