Unusual thunderstorms

Severe rain in May is a little unusual. So far, we are at 22.6 mm for today, of which 9 mm fell in a few minutes around 07:00. What is really unusual is that the thunder was heard literally as a continuous noise (loud rumble) at roughly the same level for a full 15 minutes, without even half a second’s break. I’ve never heard this before in all my 75 years. None of the lightning was really local but there seemed to be several storms going on simultaneously in different directions at distances of 1 to 5 km. I’ve heard that a village about 30 km away, on the coast, has been badly hit with trees uprooted and electricity pylons down.

I’ve witnessed some spectacular thunderstorms in Cyprus myself, but they have not produced the continuous rumble that you have heard. However, I have been much lower down near the coast, so I suppose that being much higher up where you are, allows the reverberations to merge somewhat if there sufficent lighning strokes going on. It must have sounded really dramatic.

Strangely, we hardly ever get thunderstorms up here in N Scotland although there does seem to be a tendancy for just a few odd more over the years.

Yup! some of the storms are spectacular. I remember once, in 1952, just S. of Nicosia, being right in the middle of 3 storms with powerful and frequent lightning strikes all within a radius of a guessed 500 m, in 3 different directions, yet where I was standing (indoors, for safety!), enjoying the pyrotechnics, it was dry (outdoors as well). After about 10 minutes of this, one of the storms drifted our way and the heavens opened.

We are now running at 29.4 mm today (NOT a record, by any means!) of very welcome unseasonal rain. Unfortunately, there is too much in short bursts, so that run-off wastes a lot of this water.

I’ve heard Larnaca has been badly hit, as well. I went to Nicosia this morning. Didn’t see anything unusual, just the usual flooded roads because the authorities believe it never rains here and don’t bother with efficient drainage.

Not like Singapore where the “monsoon” ditches are fantastic.

It’s a shame about all the wasted rain-water run-off for countries with unusually dry climates…more planned catchment storage required.

Yes, I’ve been in many countries with “monsoon ditches”: very effective,

What galls me is the way water is allowed to run off into oblivion (and the sea) in a country where water is scarce. Our village has recently put in new drains along ~4 km (estimated) of roads with widths varying from 6 to 8 m. Let’s say 28,000 m

Big picture, small picture…It is amazing that water is not treated as a whole topic by those in power. Fortunately this has happened in the UK in the recent past. Far too often water is seen by one organisation as a problem (roads departments, sewerage etc) and by others as a scarce commodity (drinking water supply, irrigation etc). Unfortunately, without the powers that be banging heads together and forming a combined water “industry”/regulatory authority to oversee these matters, then the outcome is waste on a huge scale, be it financial or quantitive (water). Is there any scope to form such a local organisation where you are without financial expenditure, to at least point out the possibilities of water re-claim (run-off)for the possibility of local storage.

The government doesn’t want to spend money wisely, only waste it (and water).

If you are interested, there is a document at http://www.cypenv.org/cyprus_water/

Thanks. An interesting document which goes some way to saying it all! However, it would seem that there is much to be done. With the increasing coverage of land by concrete/roads/habitatation the run-off will continue to increase and the natural underground aquifiers to be depleted still further. Much, much education needs to be done on water conservation whilst it is still there and falling from the skies. The very best of luck. Keep those gutters and water butts in good order.

Both are almost unknown in this country, the former because it never rains (!), the latter because they encourage noisome insects, which don’t need any encouragement!