What's the weather where you are?

[Siberia]

Oh, those people on the beach in the hailstorm... what would they have done if the hail was tennis-ball size?

Uh maybe diving in - some better chances than?

Protect their heads first of all? Cover them with something (bare arms, if nothing else) and run to some shelter asap. This is what the people instinctively were doing, it seems.

Btw, Russia Today reported our hailstorm, alongside with the news about the snowfall in the Urals: http://rt.com/news/172468-freaky-snow-urals-siberia/.

According to it, "local media reported some [hails] to be the size of golf balls or hen eggs." Which could be a bit exaggerated, I think. :) Anyway, it contains more photos and videos of both these snow and hailstorms.

 

[lilies]

Temperatures are consistently 6 to 12 °C lower than in previous summer, during good weather.

Couldn't help to notice, while watching max temperature charts in our forecasts week by week. (West of Ukraine.)

 

[Alvalsen]

Kiev 28 C and hot
June was colder

 

[moodygoodcapn]

I live in the mtns. of WA state, and it's 104 in the shade. A new fire just started about 5 miles from my home, I can see the flames at night, and it has filled the area with smoke. I gave in today and bought an AC for my bedroom.

 

[Chad]

On the NW coast of the UK we had a really stuffy day (18th - 19th July), lots of cloud cover and then a balmy but windy evening; it was the 'hottest day of the year'. I know London had a clear blistering day followed by a 'storm' in the evening. The image attached is from Manchester (NW England) (_https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204310190626056&set=p.10204310190626056&type=1&theater).

We don't have thunder and lightning often; i saw some a month or so ago but other than that, it's been years! (for me at least). And it seems that photographing lightning is increasingly a risky sport!

Woman films moment lightning bolt hit her house
_http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28375247

18 July 2014 Last updated at 15:56 BST

A series of powerful thunderstorms struck southern England overnight and many people took extraordinary photographs of the lightning.

However, Susannah Ford-Crush from Tunbridge Wells in Kent was lucky to escape with her life when a bolt of lightning hit the front of her house just feet from where she was filming.

Miranda Schunke reports.
Read more
Hottest day of the year follows thunderstorms

Published on 19 Jul 2014

Huge shelf could with gust front. 18/07/14. Storm was amazing with lots of lightning.

http://<iframe width="853" height="...64" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

ADDED: apparently this odd weather in the UK is due to the 'polar vortex' (lagging, meandering jet stream?) which is bringing cold weather to the US. http://www.sott.net/article/282216-July-chill-brings-record-cold-temperatures-to-parts-of-US

Edit: BBC Link added

 

[SMM]

This morning there was rain, lightening and thunder in Wales. Similar to what you describe, itellsya.

This image is from a flood warning from the Met Office indicating which areas where mostly affected:

 

[dankhiar]

Been raining literally everyday, or almost everyday, here in Florida for the past few weeks. The sky is cloudy at the moment, and surprisingly enough, it hailed a few days ago. Wasn't too extreme, but noticeable enough, I would say.

I'm enjoying the weather, although other people here are not too happy about it.

 

[HiThere]

Pictures from a flood in Norway that came after a rainfall and flooded areas that never before has had these problems:

 

[s-kur]

Kamchatka-strange summer weather. Week with fog and rain , week with sun and unusual heat...

Sunny week is ending, the russian national signs speak that galo by a rain

 

[Muxel]

On this side of the planet, in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, it's supposed to be the rainy season, with daily torrential rains, but the past month or so has been exceedingly dry. Instead of the almost daily downpour there's been only a whimper of rain every now and then. Result is that water supply levels are low (1), various diseases are up (mosquitos are happy), and there was even a bushfire in the city, most likely started by firecrackers as we just had Chinese new year celebrations.

Usually people here talks about weather (it's pretty much all the same all the time), but now, with no rain, it's the conversation topic du jour.

1) http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/119362-water-crisis-as-drought-dries-up-malaysian-reservoirs
2) http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/fire-destroys-4-hectares-of-bushes-near-ampang-bernama
(ps. we used to live in one of the houses in that picture up until 3 months ago...)

Water restriction just started in Selangor, Malaysia around my area due to abysmal lack of rainwater for the past few weeks. It's very dry and hot, not to mention hazy too.

Here in Malaysia's capital and areas surrounding, we are sure as hell going to have our water cut after Eid ul-Fitr. Our dams are at critical levels i.e. very dry. The gov't is only delaying the inevitable for the Eid ul-Fitr celebrations. This year has been a year of water shortage; it has never been like this before.

Along with the dryness Malaysia's capital has been plagued by haze. It used to be a roughly once-a-year visitation from Sumatra's peat fires. But there have been too many days in 2014 that I have woken up to the smell of something burning in the air.

 

[Laura]

Lots of lightning, thunder and rain yesterday for most of the day. Foggy this morning, 15 C.

The storm was a bit odd: lightning and thunder throughout. Usually it comes at the beginning and/or end. Sounded like bombs going off.

 

[Keit]

Lots of lightning, thunder and rain yesterday for most of the day. Foggy this morning, 15 C.

The storm was a bit odd: lightning and thunder throughout. Usually it comes at the beginning and/or end. Sounded like bombs going off.

The image from _blitzortung.org also shows, that the storm had a circular form. That's pretty strange, not sure if it's "normal".

 

[Anthony]

Lots of lightning, thunder and rain yesterday for most of the day. Foggy this morning, 15 C.

The storm was a bit odd: lightning and thunder throughout. Usually it comes at the beginning and/or end. Sounded like bombs going off.

Last night in Croatia lightning, thunder and hail, it definitely sounded weird.

 

[Siberia]

Lots of lightning, thunder and rain yesterday for most of the day. Foggy this morning, 15 C.

The storm was a bit odd: lightning and thunder throughout. Usually it comes at the beginning and/or end. Sounded like bombs going off.

The image from _blitzortung.org also shows, that the storm had a circular form. That's pretty strange, not sure if it's "normal".

Yes, looks unusual, indeed. Like a spiral or vortex of lightnings.

We've also been having lightning storms almost everyday this week. Many pics were shared in local social networks: nothing unusual probably, except for the fact that we are having them every day now. Here is one of the latest pics:

 

[CNS]

I'm not sure about the rest of the US, but here in the Midwest, it has been unusually cold and rainy this summer. June was very wet (almost record setting), and July in central Indiana is on pace to be in the top 5 for coldest Julys on record, if not the first! We have had daytime highs in the low 70's (F) and lows in the 40's! The average high is about 86 this time of year with lows in the 60's. More 70 deg days in the forecast this week!

Very strange weather indeed. I see by the majority of recent posts that it seems most of the planet is cooler than usual...