[imagesource: YouTube / News24]

Rumour has it this is the most exciting thing to happen in East London in years.

Jokes, good people of Slummies – there’s also that intersection that everybody was crashing into a few years ago.

On Wednesday night, many residents in and around East London reported seeing a storm with excessive thunder and lightning.

News24 reports that the storm, which started shortly after 6PM, “left many trembling with fear,” and was described as “insane”.

One Gonubie resident, Luzanne Fouche, captured the strikes from her farm, and was clearly perplexed by what she was witnessing:

I have never seen anything like this before. It’s like disco lights. No sound but strong winds came with sudden blows. It’s scary. It’s happening out at sea.

Fouche shared this footage with News24, which comes with some outstanding commentary:

In response to queries, SA Weather Service (SAWS) stated that this was a multi-cell cluster storm, defined as “a group of thunderstorm cells moving in one unit”.

Multi-cell cluster storms can bring with them strong winds, hail, heavy rains, and frequent lightning.

More from SAWS, on what caused the storm:

“Favorable atmospheric conditions which are conducive for thunderstorm development, in meteorology terms, include a surface trough, a steep upper air trough over the western interior of the country and high instability indices.”

That, right there, is your meteorological lesson for the day.

Stay strong, East London.

[source:news24]