The July 1968 United Kingdom thunderstorms were the most severe dust fall thunderstorms in the British Isles for over 200 years.[1] A layer of mineral dust blowing north from the Sahara met cold, wet air over the British Isles, resulting in thick, dense clouds and severe thunderstorms across most of England and Wales. These clouds completely blotted out the light in some areas and the rain and hail resulted in property damage and flooding, and at least
The storms resulted in at least four fatalities. Three people were struck by lightning – a 72-year-old woman in Northallerton, a 14-year-old girl in Oldham, and an unnamed woman in Hampsthwaite – while an 80-year-old man drowned in flooding in Welshpool.[2][3][9] Hail broke windows and dented cars across a wide swathe of the country, and damage was reported at both Cardiff Airport and RAF Chivenor. At Yeadon, West Yorkshire, the accumulated hail piled 450 millimetres (18 in) deep, and in parts of Yorkshire the ice was so severe that roads had to be cleared with bulldozers.[5]
Bradford saw severe flooding on 2 July, with many streets in the centre left underwater, as did the Isle of Man.[10][11] The Met Office noted that many rivers across the West Country and the Midlands burst their banks, and said that every town and village in Devon was flooded, with damage to property and crops assessed as "a major disaster".[12] The summer of 1968 would prove to be one of the worst ever recorded for flooding in the UK, with further storms causing the Chew Stoke flood of 1968 just a week later and the Great Flood of 1968 that September, and would not be equalled until the 2007 floods.[13]
In the wake of the storm, a number of normally rare African and Southern European insects were reported across England, having been blown across with the Saharan dust
Jerry
Edinburgh, in the frost hollow below Blackford Hill