7 September 2013 Thunderstorm

Brigham Young University

Dept. of Physics & Astronomy

A fairly violent thunderstorm passed through Utah County, starting at the south end and progressing northward. Scattered clouds began about 13:30 as evidenced by the variations in the solar irradiance, with heavy overcast moving at 15:25 with the sky completely obscured by 16:00 (it was very dark by then). The rainfall began at 16:10 with a peak rate of about 4.5"/hour for roughly 20 minutes. The temperature fell 15°F in about 10 minutes and the humidity rose by about 60% over the period from 16:05 to 16:10. After the rain stopped, about 19:00, the temperature dropped another 7°F or so. There is also a slow drop in the station pressure (absolute atmospheric pressure) until 16:00 when there is an abrupt rise due to the downdrafts in the thunderstorm. Peak winds were 47 mph at about 16:10, just before the rain started.

The conditions at BYU around this time:

Weather data graph

Article from the Deseret News regarding the storm, including some video clips
Another article from the Deseret News with more video clips added

A sampling of other YouTube videos that may be available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw0ahpH7fJs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJUa8_A-ujg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GeLXczUXsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_OUT8JFc0I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_InKNVVOaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLPIllGNlLg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxwDJvqHR5c
The next two came from the BYU/Texas football game that had a two hour rain delay including a complete evacuation of the stadium seating due to lightning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG-4weejNG8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYAOYu0rCSk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5B_KLga-A0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjBQcndcvcw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwMLC9afcbE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIyZVfstI8c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnZ_HYX_kpo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb5wiSXoOoI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2493joav2w

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