Footage shows streak of lightning over Devil's Dyke near Brighton

The stunning video, captured by amateur meteorologist Sam Woodward, shows the bolt of lightning flash across the sky from left to right over Devil’s Dyke near Brighton.

Sam, a director for a mechanics in Brighton, filmed the spectacle from his house in Greenfield Crescent, Patcham.

The 38-year-old said the power of nature has always fascinated him.

The bolt of lightning growing across the sky over Devil's Dyke

He told The Argus: “That video is probably up there with my best to be honest. If there are good storms coming from anywhere I will regularly go out in my car to get a good spot to watch them from.

“I quite enjoy meteorology. It’s something I have always found fascinating ever since I was younger.

“The storm last night wasn’t the best I have seen, I was lucky to get that shot. A lot of the storm was cloud to cloud lightning where you don’t get so much of it coming out and striking the ground.

The moment it lit up the sky of Brighton

“I only shoot on my Samsung Galaxy and sometimes a GoPro as you can do slow motion of the thunderstorm and look at it frame by frame. I’m so used to that camera. I prefer the functionality of having it in my pocket.

“You can see the lightning picking its route, then there’s a feedback charge, and you see it takes the exact same path as the original flash. It was really bizarre, I have never seen anything like that before.”

Sam said the thunderstorm last night was more of a moving weather front, whereas his favourite is what is known as a cumulonimbus cloud.

The bolt seems to go back in the path it came

Cumulonimbus are “menacing looking multi-level clouds, extending high into the sky in towers or plumes”.

“I prefer storms which are triggered by sunlight and day time heating where you get the big cumulonimbus growing up from the ground," he said. "The storm last night was caused by an upper area of colder air overshooting warmer air but generally it’s not as dramatic as a cumulonimbus.

“They’re the most dramatic thunderstorms. The event last night was more of a moving weather front where you see it coming and it goes.”

Met Office forecaster Oli Claydon warned of an air mass moving up from the south which is why thunderstorms have been brewing.

He said: “We’ve got an air mass moving up from the south which is helping to bring some warm air with it and why we’re seeing some of the highest temperatures of the year.

“It’s the same reason why we’ve been seeing the thunderstorms over the past few days as well. That will change as we go through the week, with fronts moving in and bringing ever so slightly fresher air."

The Argus has been collating some of the best pictures and videos of the thunderstorm from last night sent in by our readers.