Boom, shake, shake the room...

We had some pretty major thunderstorms last night. It started at about 4.30pm and went on until atleast 10pm but with rain continuing. We get quite a few thunderstorms over here, atleast more than I'm used to back in Blighty, and bigger too... but last nights was a perticularly big one, with lightning flashes every few seconds and constant thunder rumblings. I tried video taping it, hoping to catch that big bolt... well, as with all forked lightning, it's terribly camera shy. I had the camera angled out of my bedroom window pointing at rather dark bit of the storm cloud... as soon as I hit the button to stop recodring, there was the money shot. Typical! It would have been slap bang in the center of my frame of view. I got plenty of flashes and rumbles on tape though... and I may have cought some forked lightning across the sky, I've yet to review the tape. More storms were forecast for today but it looks like it exhausted itself last night. Instead we have fog.

Here's the alert that scrolled across the screen during last nights new episode of Scrubs;

From the WCNC SKYMAX Weather Center. . .. Slow moving thunderstorms continue to produce torrential rain, frequent lightning and pea to golfball size hail. The storm over Mecklenburg county is nearly stationary and a Flash Flood Warning will continue through 11pm. Street flooding is likely. Remember you should never attempt to cross flooded areas. DON'T DROWN TURN AROUND. Stay tuned to Carolinas' News Channel for the latest weather information. . .

I'll post the video, if it's any good, later.

Storms pummel area with wind, rain, hail Lightning strikes 8 homes in county, causing at least 1 fire. [The Charlotte Observer]
Region withstands severe storms [News 14 Carolina]
Spring Storm Slams Charlotte Bonner Heath said she saw a bolt hit a light fixture outside her home - then saw the current treavel to the ground. Heath was on the phone when it happened."It sounded like it was coming right through the phone into me," Heath said, adding "I did not feel anything - when I returned the phone to the holder, I felt I smelled smoke." [WSOCTV.com]

*Update: Stills from the video added, below