Summer storm hits Gib

This dramatic image shows a summer storm creeping over Gibraltar yesterday afternoon.08Lightning sliced through the muggy air and thunder reverberated around the Rock, stopping people in their tracks and making buildings shake.

 “Believe it or not, it is not that unusual for Gibraltar to experience summer storms, and more often than not, any rain that we do see in summer tends to come by way of Moroccan showers,” said Steph Ball, from Gibraltar-based weather specialist MeteoGib.

 “The problem is they can be very hit and miss and depend on the correct ingredients being there for the showers to develop and then for the wind flow to be correct to carry them towards Gibraltar. Often they bypass us and cross the Alboran basin.”

 “Today’s showers were helped along by a trough of low pressure which moved in from the west and tapped into the warm air which has been sitting over us the last week or so, producing some very active storms with reports of thunder, lightning and hail,” she added.

 Photo by Steve Bell, MeteoGib