Very Loud Thunder

I live in southeast Iowa and I've noticed some really loud thunder lately. But last night had to be the loudest by far! I'm 50 years old and it's the loudest I ever remember. My wife and I both bolted a foot out of bed. I wonder if this is related to some kind of climate change. Has anyone else noticed this?

Well thunder is the byproduct of lightning, so my guess would be that you had a lightning strike near your location. It's not uncommon to have that type of experience when it's close to you.

Now with that in mind if you're thinking the sound of thunder is getting louder in general that could be in relation to atmospheric phenomenon that causes more intense lightning and thus a louder sound, I'm not sure. I wonder if there is a lightning expert who can let us know if the sound is always constant or if it varies from the intensity of the strike.

Good thread!

reply to post by Tippys Dad


Actualy there was another post of this today.

I experienced two my self about thre weeks ago.
It was one on friday and one on satureday, I'm glad I didnt hold any coffee so to speak..

This happened to me last week here in the the south of the UK.

I love thunderstorms, could sit outside all day and watch them, they are fascinating. However last week there was a clap of thunder above my house that scared the hell out of me!

It was the loudest thing i've ever heard. Totaly impressed, but my ears took a bit of a bashing.

CX.

3 main things can affect the voume of the thunder:

Current pressure
Air temp
Wind direction

www.absoluteastronomy.com...

Other than that, I would ask OzWeatherman here. Im having no luck with google.

The volume of thunder isnt related to climate change. The closer you are to a lightning strike, the louder the thunder will be. Having just spent three years in the Australian tropics, Im no stranger to thunder, and the amount of storms we get there during summer is phenomenal. So yes, thunder can get extremely loud if you're in close proximity, and no, it isnt unusual

Yeah thunder can get loud lol, car alarms go off when it gets loud enough haha.

Thanks for the replies. It makes sense thunder is louder closer to lightning, but by some coincidence I'm closer to lightning more often lately. I share the experience with some of you that it seems to be getting louder in general lately. Maybe I'm just becoming more of a wimp in my older age. It is interesting that some have noted there are other similiar threads.