Progression of thunder and lightning
I'm sat at the moment at a desk in the south of england, in a thunderstorm. It has been raining continuously for a couple of hours, and looking at the weather chart I'm right under (or maybe up to 50nm in front of) a cold front with embedded CBs.
Nothing unusual in that, except that for once in my life, I'm happy to be sat at a desk instead of flying.
Anyhow, I happened to be looking at a clock when half an hour ago there was a lightning flash. 3ish seconds later I heard the thunder - which then carried on (decreasing in loudness steadily) for a good 45 seconds. It did the same several more times over the next ten minutes.
So what was happening here?
Is the lightning event rippling down the length of a chain of embedded CBs?, or is this some accoustic effect causing a steadily decreasing echo? Something else?
Anybody with greater met knowledge than mine have any idea?
G