Solar Flare - Did it cause the thunder - lightning and hail out of the blue last night?

Good morning ATS,

I was shocked to read a thread yesterday that predicted a massive solar flare hitting earth at approximately 7pm PST. As usually I just thought to myself "Yeah yeah, another flare, big deal"

As I was having drinks with a friend on a patio at about 6:30, it started to rain quite heavily - nothing out of the ordinary. Yet to my great surprize as I was leaving, it began hailing which is a very rare weather phenomena in Vancouver. Then just as we began leaving later on there was bursts of thunder, lightning and an electrical buzzing or humming in the air and my immediate thought was "Damn, could the solar flare have caused that?"

Now I know this is laughable to some - But I live in the Vancouver region of british columbia which is just north west of Seattle about 2-3 hours. We never get thunder and lightning - It just doesnt happen here unless conditions for it are present, which is never.

Yet at the precise time of the flare hitting the earth, this scenario happens.

Any ideas if they are related?

Blessings,

-GM

Thanks for letting us know what happened. I am not aware that the flares have anything to do with weather but the timing is very strange for an area that does not get these kind of storms.. The experts in this field do discuss weather/earthquakes in regards to flares.Perhaps someone with more knowlege than myself on the subject will come along.

Originally posted by Gradius Maximus
Good morning ATS,

I was shocked to read a thread yesterday that predicted a massive solar flare hitting earth at approximately 7pm PST. As usually I just thought to myself "Yeah yeah, another flare, big deal"

As I was having drinks with a friend on a patio at about 6:30, it started to rain quite heavily - nothing out of the ordinary. Yet to my great surprize as I was leaving, it began hailing which is a very rare weather phenomena in Vancouver. Then just as we began leaving later on there was bursts of thunder, lightning and an electrical buzzing or humming in the air and my immediate thought was "Damn, could the solar flare have caused that?"

Now I know this is laughable to some - But I live in the Vancouver region of british columbia which is just north west of Seattle about 2-3 hours. We never get thunder and lightning - It just doesnt happen here unless conditions for it are present, which is never.

Yet at the precise time of the flare hitting the earth, this scenario happens.

Any ideas if they are related?

Blessings,

-GM

I was raised in Vancouver, mostly North Van, and what I remember most is the rain, rain, rain, and more rain. There was never a lot of thunder and lightning, but when we did get it, it was loud, and close. A house was hit on it's roof, and shingle bits were found for blocks.

It happens, just not often. But so much rain......

Yeah I had finished my day in North Van and met up with some friends on Commercial Drive. It was very sudden, harsh rain hail, thunder, lightning! BOOM!!!

and it was completely gone in 15-20 minutes - no more wind, no rain, no hail, no thunder and lightning - it was just gone.

This wasnt a storm that brewed into an epic night of flashy bolts. It was more like a swift hammering blow to the atmosphere.

I'm not an expert on the subject by any means, and I can find little material online to support evidence that a solar flare would cause electrical activity and hail with high winds for a short burst of 15-20 minutes.

Hoping someone has more to offer, or at least relate similar experience.

The Farmers Almanac uses sun spot and flare activity as a major portion of it's mathematics for figuring weather.

www.farmersalmanac.com...

So, to answer your question, yes Solar flares can cause rain, thunder, and lightening. It does charge up the upper atmosphere.

reply to post by Gradius Maximus

Yeah I had finished my day in North Van and met up with some friends on Commercial Drive. It was very sudden, harsh rain hail, thunder, lightning! BOOM!!! and it was completely gone in 15-20 minutes - no more wind, no rain, no hail, no thunder and lightning - it was just gone. This wasnt a storm that brewed into an epic night of flashy bolts. It was more like a swift hammering blow to the atmosphere.

Yeah, I guess that is a little unusual. Normally the thunder storms there will go on for hours, and the rain for days, and days.....

The Farmers Almanac uses sun spot and flare activity as a major portion of it's mathematics for figuring weather.

That is interesting. I'm going to be paying more attention. Where I am now, it just seems to snow and snow..

The same thing happened in the Northeastern US on June 8th around 2PM. The weather was at a record heat of upper 90's on the 8th and 9th. I have never seen such severe lightning and thunder in my life and even a "downthrust" knocked over several large trees in Providence, RI. The lightning was so rapid that the sky was lit up non-stop and the thunder would vibrate and crack the air for long periods of time. I was asking someone if they saw the lightning the other night and they said "what from the solar flare?" and I said what? I did some research to confirm the solar flare and it did happen at the same time as the storms. I believe that the solar flare added to the energy contained in the thunderstorm, turning it much more violent. However, I believe that the solar flare itself did not create the lightning storm by itself, just a perfect combination of the solar flare on the sun, with high heat and humidity on the earth.

There was no solar flare or unusual geomagnetic activity at or around 7:00 PM PST yesterday.

usually to have those kinds of storms present in vancouver we need a southerly flow of air.

there were very dark clouds towards North Van and the cascades towards the east yesterday, I was in north Surrey but there was no rain/thunder/lightning, just cloud breaks and sun. consider that we are heading into Summer so it is expected that we hear some lightning but nothing extreme.

reply to post by andys

There was no significant solar flare on the 8th.


Geomagnetic activity was low (Kp 1) at 2PM EDT (1800 UTC)

reply to post by Phage


Hmmm....interesting. Just strange to me because I read a news article that actually showed a picture of the coronal mass ejection. Phage what is that red bar on the kp index show? Thanks for the data, is it from satellite or land?

It looks like the flare occurred on the 7th thus debunking my theory. Unless the energy from the flare lingered in the atmosphere which is highly speculative.