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Somebody named Lisa Funnell uploaded a picture to Rye’s FaceBook page that does the storm justice. Check it out.

I wish I’d caught it 🙁

Pretty wicked looking storm…looks like it’s still blowing east of you…you can see it on the live lightning tracking map:

http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en

…click on the ‘Europe’ link in the top left if it doesn’t take you there automatically.

Looks like a Jack-O-Lantern

Are the chickens OK??

Glad you all are safe and sound! (Including all your critters, I hope!)

That storm pic by Lisa Funnell looks like what the US weather people call a ‘supercell’ storm.

Also, you have an awesome house! 🙂

Sure looks like a supercell to me. Glad y’all came through the storm ok.

The UK has more tornadoes per area than anywhere else. So sez Wiki. Of course they’re not usually anything that would get Dorothy excited.

Jim Rockford has left the building and platypuss takes the dick!

Neato pics!
When I see that kinda stuff, makes it easy for me to appreciate how early walking dudes could only imagine divinities as the source.

Yes, all the critters are fine. The cats weren’t fazed and the chicken house is tucked up in a sheltered corner of the hedge. Chooks slept through it.

There are willow branches *every*where. But, willows being willows, we hope the trees will recover.

Congrats, Platypuss. Poor old James Garner. I liked him. That was his schtick, wasn’t it? You liked him.

Dreadfully sorry for anyone waiting for dick…I’ve let myself get way behind again.

James Garner was my first “star” crush. Sigh.

Thanks for the pointer, Frit. I’ve just read the Wikipedia article on supercells, and that certainly does sound like what we experienced.

Sounds like what ran through your ‘hood was a Derecho:
https://www.google.com/#q=derecho

One hit here (in ol’ Virginny) back in ’12. Nasty bugger. I saw it coming on Weather Underground’s radar just before I went to bed. Truly wondered WTF??? There was a big vertical red stripe on the radar sweeping eastward. When it hit, the wind was truly hurricane force and the lightning seemed almost continuous. Wildest storm I think I’ve ever been through.

I’m leaning toward supercell, MikeW. Looks like a derecho bows inwards. This thing was a great arc, like a spinning disk. And more than one person observed that the wind was coming from a different direction from the storm.

Still haven’t seen anything about it in the news.

The storm reminds me of an ancient English poem I have always loved. Quoting from memory,
” Blow Western wind, when whilst thou blow,
And downe small rain canne rain.
Christ if my love were in my arms
and the roof on the house againe”.

Until I read your post, MikeW, I hadn’t thought about the difference between a ‘Supercell’ and a ‘Derecho’ storm, so I looked it up.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/supercells.htm

Apparently, the primary difference is that a Supercell is one large cloud component, round or kidney shaped, while a Derecho is a series of bow-wave fronts moving in the same direction. The front of the storm clouds can look similar in both cases; it’s the body that is different.

So, does a big wind rattle the slate?

And given the size and slope of that cool roof, who puts the slate there in the first place? What a roofline.

Good that the Global Warming demons passed you by!

It’s Sussex peg tile, Tom. Terra cotta. They are slightly curved and, indeed, held on loosely by pegs. We were expecting the worst, but it doesn’t look like we’re missing any.

The very steep roof is the ancient part of the house. It’s shaped that way in part to collect rainwater (which it does — boy howdy!).

I wouldn’t want to have to repair it, that’s for sure. How old is the roof?

Wow. So I had to google, and of course there are about 1.5 bazilion pix of the tiles. And dealers who apparently strip em off your roof when you’re not looking and sell them to others. Some adverts said “as old as 200 years”.

It seems amazing that none flew away, but that shows you that the old craftsmen knew “their onions”, as Brits say (at least on the PBS shows).

I must note the passing of Johnathan Dodgson Winter III, known as Johnny to his friends

Well fuck. Texas and the Indian Territories have taken a blow. Am I the only one to have seen Tommy Lee Jones as his look alike?

The Mrs. says your house is to die for gorgeous.

It’s very awesome, Drew, but ancient buildings have their…issues. Like neither of us can walk through the livingroom wearing shoes because the main housebeams are too low. And that’s not even taking into account Old Skullcrusher, the entryway beam.

And then there’s the wattle and daub in the stairway and the horsehair poking out of the plaster on the landing and the deathwatch beetle in Spring. Two Christmases running a rat has crawled under the floorboards in the master bedroom and croaked.

You have to love it to put up with it.

We don’t really know, Nina. It’s a bit like the ‘Irishman’s broom’ – bits have been replaced so many times down the years.

Her Stoatliness has probably told the story but in case not, we had a specialist surveyor visit once (deathwatch beetle issues) and the Weasel sayeth unto him: ‘It’s amazing to think these beams are 400 or 500 year old!’

To which he sayeth unto her: ‘Oh, no, Dame Stoat! They were ancient when teh house was built! They are probably from a barn or a cart or a ship. They could be 1,000 years old.’

At which point even I started to get impressed.

So, the roof? Who knows? A builder cast his eye over it a year or so back and told me a repair could cost £30-40,000.

I required strong drink to recover.

Last time we had some repairs, they found a roof tile with 1911 scratched in the back, so that’s something.

It’s probably been repaired many, many times. But it was never thatch, we’re told. We used to think it might have been.

And that’s not even taking into account Old Skullcrusher, the entryway beam.

Ah, some friends in Oley, PA have a house that is pre-war (as in American Revolution). Being 6’2″, I have had a run-in with such a beam. Or two. Ow.

I’m glad I’m short, then. 🙂

But yeah, those old houses are cool to live in…especially in winter. 🙂

If I don’t lose power, I like the odd thunderstorm. Comes from living in a place where the sun shines A LOT. A little cooler (if humid) grayness is a nice change from endless yellow sticky sunlight.