Unusual Thunder (storms, America, most, thunderstorms)

[Joe90]

Do you sometimes hear thunder that sounds very different to usual?

There was thunder here yesterday, that sounded most unusual. The crack (more of a tearing sound) would have gone on for about 7 seconds, and seemed to be in one place, rather than spreading out. The cloud ceiling was low, so no lightning was visible.

Any similar experiences, or ideas on cause?

[Joe90]

No replies yet?

Someone must have an unusual thunder story. Talking to the neighbour this morning, they said it sounded as though the thunder was going up, rather than out. He wondered if it was a discharge going up from the top of the cloud, rather than out or down from the cloud. With the cloud ceiling so low (about a 1000 ft), it was hard to see what was happening.

More thunder coming through now, although this is more typical rolling thunder. Looks like it's coming this way.

[Dean York]

None that I can remember. At home or abroad, other than how loud or quiet it is, it all sounds the same to me.

I'm surprised some of the American posters haven't commented considering the wealth of storms they have.

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by dean york

I'm surprised some of the American posters haven't commented considering the wealth of storms they have.

Yes, I would have thought so as well.

It could be that low altitude thunderstorms aren't common in the US.

[MeteoMan]

I've heard plenty of thunder from low altitude clouds (tops less than 15,000ft) in winter and it didn't sound unusual.

[Joe90]

Well this certainly did. It sounded stationary -like the crack was just in one place.

The crack sounded quite different as well, hard to explain.

[jehane]

I find that thunder sounds more like a sharp crack when it's close, and more like a rumble when it's further away.

[miamihurricane555]

I've herd a small crack followed by a few secs of a low rumble before the house shaking rumble comes in that lasts up to 10 secs. but that's about as weird as i've seen.

PS I hate it when lightning strikes within 1,000ft of me the crack of the thunder is way too damn loud and it scares the S**t out of me!. lightning stikes from a mile to 2 miles away are optimal.

[Joe90]

Originally Posted by jehane

I find that thunder sounds more like a sharp crack when it's close, and more like a rumble when it's further away.

Yes that is what I find too.

This was like a prolonged crack (7 seconds) that didn't seem to change it's pitch and sounded stationary.

After a few seconds, I wondered if it was something other than thunder - although it definitely was.

Another thing was even though it sounded very close, I don't think there was any real shaking

[MeteoMan]

This morning I got woken up at 8:05AM by a loud bang which sounded like thunder. It was raining at the time so I'm going to check out the radar images and reports to find out.