In addition to an uncharacteristic early-morning hailstorm in northern Colorado, Tuesday’s severe weather brought continuous thunder and lightning to the area.
Denver7 viewer Lorie in Boulder was curious about an unusual bout of thunder Tuesday afternoon and asked us about it:
“In the [too] many years of my adulthood here in Boulder, I have only seen a few occasions where the lightning was non-stop for a few hours. Until today, I have never experienced non-stop, continuous thunder. Today's the day - the thunder is low and rumbly, and has continued for [about] 20 minutes without a break. Wild.”
We took her question to evening meteorologist Danielle Grant, who explained the weather phenomenon.
There were a couple of factors that contributed to the rolling thunder Lorie and others may have heard in Boulder and across a wide swath of the Front Range.
First, Tuesday’s storms were very electrical. Denver7’s weather maps tracking lightning strikes during the storm showed frequent, overlapping lightning. In that case, you’re not necessarily going to get that big boom from thunderclaps – it's more of a low hum.
Atmospheric conditions also played a role.
Typically, the air on the ground is going to be a certain temperature, and it cools as it rises. That wasn’t the case Tuesday, though.
We had a little bit of an inversion, or a thin layer of air above the ground where the temperature actually climbs rather than falls. When you have that, the sound waves from the thunder out there actually bounce back and forth between that layer and the ground. So, that’s another reason you can get that sort of low hum sound.
Lastly, in Lorie’s case in Boulder, the sound waves grow longer as a storm tracks further off to the east, which can make thunder sound more like a low groan.
- Related: From stormy to scorching, 100-degree heat is possible in Denver later this week. Here's what to expect and when.
As usual with Colorado weather, some pretty interesting stuff here. Keep the questions coming!
