This remains the most severe thunderstorm I have experienced in the UK. I have looked for information on this storm on the internet but with little success and was hoping some of the forum users who I know have access to detailed information might obtain some information or point me in the right direction.

I think the storm was particularly intense in Manchester because:

The following day on the National Forecast on the Light programme (now Radio 2) the forecaster introduced his segment by stating that Manchester had had the most severe storm the previous evening breaking several records.

At school the following day the storm was the only topic of conversation, this from people who NEVER talked about the weather.

A few days later at the next Geography lesson the teacher took the first 10 minutes to discuss the storm, how it had become “trapped” in the Manchester basin and the cells had multiplied as a result.

I recently asked someone I was with that evening if they remembered the storm. They did and said it was the most severe storm they could remember “it was a Thursday night”.

The only thing I have found was a blog by a thunderstorm aficionado who was in Keele Staffordshire that evening and noted a level 2 thunderstorm, but Keele is some 50 miles south of Manchester.

Also I am happy to go into detail about the storm as I remember it, timelines etc (it lasted nearly 4 hours), if people are sufficiently interested.

 

Thanks

 

 

I doubt I'm going to be all that much help, but can you clarify what kid of information you are after? I'm sure the isobar charts for the date would be available on wetterzentrale although they may not be all that dramatic in this kind of situation, but if it's more data from the storm itself and the aftermath, newspaper archives might be the way to go?

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I had a look through the Times newspaper archives and there is no mention of that storm. The only vaguely related references I could find was from Friday May 12 and Saturday May 13 where the cricket pages had several references to thunderstorms, but nothing from Manchester in particular.

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Are you sure about the date? There were particularly violent thunderstorms across much of the country, including the northwest, on 13/14 July 1967.

http://www.weather-banter.co.uk/uk-sci-weather-uk-weather/98970-13-14-july-1967-a.html 

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I Couldn't find much info either. Some useful info here .. http://www.trevorharley.com/trevorharley/weather_web_pages/british_weather_in_may.htm

Apparently, May 1967 was a very thundery month and 11th June 1970 saw violent storms with golf ball sized hail in the Manchester area. I read somewhere also that some 200 homes were damaged by tornadoes in the Manchester area in 1964. Manchester is prone to thundery activity due to the topography and I think the annual average is some 15 to 20 days of thunder  

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There was a tremendous thunderstorm on the 25th June 1967, I believe the Middleton area was severely flooded.

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Thanks everyone for your input.

I am very certain the day I had remembered was May 11 1967. The Times cricket reports may bear that out, the reports are usually a day behind. 1967 was a very thundery year, between May and August of that year storms were quite frequent, although I think by the middle of August they had tailed off.

I have found the historical data for Manchester Airport between 1962 and 2004 when the station closed. The rainfall amounts are given on a monthly basis and May 1967 was the 12th wettest month in the 43 years, it was the 4th wettest month in the notional summer periods (May – September). September 1965, July 1973, and June 1987 being wetter.

Thanks Again