THUNDER and lightning exploded over Salisbury at the start of the weekend when atmospheric conditions created a massive storm.

The storm on Friday night which came after temperatures soared last week lasted for 45 minutes and prompted many to watch its spectacular show.

Amateur meteorologist Simon Hammond who runs Salisbury weather website SpireWeather said the storm broke several weather records in the city.

He said: "It was the wettest 24 hour period of 2015 and all that rain fell in a record 45 minutes from midnight.

"It was also the highest rainfall rate I have ever recorded at 189mm an hour - pretty torrential rain.

"The storm produced 26.6mm rainfall - also my hourly rainfall record, with the previous being 14.0mm on 23 September 2010.

"The lightning rate was exceptional for this country - it was mostly intra-cloud sheet lightning rather than cloud-to-ground fork lightning."

Mr Hammond, who has been recording the weather since July 2009 and is based in Laverstock, said: "These storms across the county developed out of nothing - at 9pm that evening in Salisbury there was no evidence on the radar of anything and although some meteorologists were predicting it, I was still sceptical but by 11pm it was developing over Bournemouth and Dorset and then it expanded over Salisbury around midnight.

"Severe storms in Salisbury are rare, the most spectacular drifting up from France, known as 'French imports'.

"Most home-grown UK storms develop further north and east - we don't tend to get new storms that build up around Salisbury but on this occasion the atmospheric conditions were just right for a huge home-grown storm."