So, today is July 18, 2026. A storm just rolled through Pittsburgh. I got to actually watch it roll in tonight. It was pretty weak sauce as far as storms go. A couple wind gusts, some rain and that was about it.
But, there was an oddity about it. I noticed it maybe ten-minutes before the front hit. A low rumbling roar. Constant. Almost like the sound an airplane. In fact, when I was trying to figure out what I was hearing, I can practically see the airport, so I initially determined it had to be a jet from its persistence, but then there was no doppler effect.
Sometimes, I would see lightning, but it was all cloud to sky. Eventually, I heard a clap that was real close, close enough that I could discern its pitch from the din. Indeed, I was hearing an unending chorus of dozens of small thunderclaps, starting and stopping at their own accord, but layered together. The front passed through fifteen-minutes ago, and the roar is still going on right now.
I like watching storms come in, and I have watched a few a year for many decades, but I’ve not ever heard that. Kind of weird. Anyone know if there is a name for that?
Don’t know about names, but here in Belgium those are mostly the few thunderstorms we get.
Constant 2-10 lightning strikes per second with a constant thunder rumble until it passes. Often with very little wind. We seem to either get extremely heavy downpours with a ton of wind or thunderstorms little wind and rain.
Very different experience from my experience in the american Midwest and mountains where it is heavy rain, heavy wind, and slow, extremely powerful thunderclaps where you can actually count the delay between lightning and thunder.
I spoke with a (very inebriated) friend who got the same storm a bit earlier than us, and he heard it too. He said numerous neighbors were outside thinking it to be a plane circling the area. Although his description of the science was pretty terrible, he’ll chase storms for lightning photos occasionally and it was something known to him. I was able to use his poor description to find a well worded scientific description by an actual meteorologist here. I spoke with another friend who got a sibling of my storm a few hours later. He heard it as well, but it’s apparently not all that rare in his area.
I’m 50 years old, and it’s the first time I have ever noticed it. It was really odd. Our standard thunder claps once then devolves into silence after 10s max before more is created again a minute later. If you’ve ever heard a US C-130 cargo plane (or large equivalent) running maneuvers real low to the ground, it sounded like that close engine noise, but almost frozen in it’s location as though it were capable of hovering. Just a constant low frequency rumble for over a half of an hour. It was loud like active thunder without any break at all.
Knowing it’s a real science thing makes it much less unnerving. Yeah. Much, much, MUCH less unnerving.
Update: Apparently, it’s called ‘Continuous Thunder’ or ‘Rolling Thunder’, nor am I the only one to notice it with these cells. First time experiencing it. Was very odd.
