*Its not fair*!

Yes same here with Bonfire month as you so aptly call it. And the New Year week. I have blackout curtains and blinds (so double protection at windows and glass doors) - except the front door which I haven't got round to so it has a bin bag pinned to it and dog still quivers long before we see or hear anything. I know it doesn't happen often but it is distressing when it does.

She was like it a few weeks ago after her operation; was sat in her basket panting. I ended up sleeping on the kitchen floor next to her that night...at least we both had a bit of comfort last night. I'm quite pleased with her today as, since the last 'sofa incident' I haven't allowed her in the living room, but she has quite happily gone back to her basket today. Just got Bonfire night [or should I say 'month' to come].By the way, for any visitors who might plan to sit on my sofa [or have sat on said sofa] it was well covered by duvets etc when we had 'the problem'!

Tegan it's horrible as there is nothing we can do to calm the dog down. All the panting as well and rolling eyes. I am not overly frightened of thunderstorms but dread them now because of the state the dog gets into.

Slept on the sofa with the dog who didn't know what to do with herself, she was so scared. Thankfully her bladder was ok [I usually don't let her on the sofa after an 'incident' a few years ago].

Woke up at 2.15 to the most amazing thunder and lightening!

It even set off the burglar alarm! The rain was torrential. I didn't get back to sleep until 4 am. Quite exciting.

x

Saw one flash and heard one quiet rumble very anticlimactic

Thick fog and heavy rain this morning!

Heavy rain here now and strong winds. If there was thunder and lightning during the night, I slept through it. Had the window open as usual. I like listening to the wind, not that I did much of that either last night.

Lightning!

usually

I was woken by the lightening last night. I don't ever remember seeing anything like it, constant flickering but just gentle rumbling of thunder.

We usually get usually a flash of lightening then a gap and a crash of thunder, but last night our sky was constantly lit up by this lightening, some quite soft and others very bright. The whole bedroom was lit up for the best part of 30 minutest.

I'm not afraid of storms normally but my son and 5- year old GD were camping in the Cotswolds last night and I'm wonderung how it affected them.

I love to watch a storm, even though lightning once struck a lamppost just feet away from me - I was carrying a bottle of milk and didn't drop it, probably paralysed by shock. My DD2 as a child would run out in a storm and dance about in the rain, arms held high. I'd have to fetch her in, alternating between being scared for her safety and captivated by her sheer joy.

Ah ha! Found it Jane - see your point.

We had a fantastic storm around midnight, huge claps of thunder, quickly followed by lightening. It was so hot I was tempted to go out into the garden and stand in the rain, which was pounding down. (tempted, that's all)

Fortunately the dogs aren't spooked by storms but a friends dog hid in a cupboard and lost control of her bladder because of terror. I don't know who I felt most sorry for!

Disaster! No rain today as promised, and it said heavy rain as well. now we have to get the garden hose out and do all the garden,it's as dry as a bone.

A neighbour asked me this morning if the lightning had really landed in my back garden earlier this morning.
Had to say I didn't know, because my bedroom was at the front, and although I was awake and kept walking through the house for a couple of hours just to make sure, as it was close, I never noticed. She said it looked like it was right over my house. Pleased I live in a bungalow in that case.

At a time I lived in Libya for two years and my apartment faced directly onto the Mediterranean sea. I will never forget the wonderful sight in the sky colours as the lightning repeatedly shot into the sea.

I am sitting in the study watching the lightning on the CCTV monitor, it is every second or two.
I used to be terrified as a child and even as an adult I preferred to hide behind a cushion. I thought aversion therapy would work so bought a CD of thunderstorms and played it over and over until I was comfortable listening to the thunderclaps. The lightning took a little longer but I can cope now. I think my fear dates back to when I was 5 years old and the lightning hit our garden fence and ran along the wire that was holding the raspberry bushes in place. Most storms used to shake the chimney and the soot would come down into the room and make a dreadful mess.

Still lots of big flashes and thunder over towards Durham.
My grandson will not be asleep.

Just noticed the moon, and it's a very strange orange/red colour. I presume that must be the storm that's causing it.

Jane10, after the storm had gone over this afternoon, I stood in the porch, and managed to persuade my grandson to look at the lightning in the hills around. He was okay when he could not hear the thunder, providing I was holding him, but he was quivering still. He even took off his headphones!

He wants to be a postman, so he's going to have to get used to the weather. He'll run a 5k in the rain, as it's just water.

We had rain here this afternoon about 4 pm. By 4.03 it was over.
Still sticky here.

As a teenager I was scared of thunderstorms - so much so that if there was a storm I would take all the metal grips out of my hair in case got struck by lightning. Then one day, we were in my dad's car driving down through the northern Pennines when there was a huge thunderstorm and I was so overawed by the power and beauty of the lightning that I forgot to be frightened. I saw some wonderful storms in East Africa in the '60s too.

I used to be very frightened of thunderstorms, until I lived, for a short time in a 17th floor apartment. The lightening was beneath us and such a wonderful display.

They don't worry me any more.

x

Still hot here in East Yorkshire. Flowers in the garden are loving it. So many have bloomed in the last couple of days.

I love thunderstorms. It's the sheer power involved. My aunt is so scared she opens all the windows and doors (apparently if the lightening strikes it will go straight through the house and out the other side), unplugs all electric appliances, opens the cutlery draw (not sure about the reasoning for that) and cowers on the sofa until it's over.