[SV650rules]

I read an article a few years ago about recent lack of thunderstorm action in UK is linked to people no longer burning coal. A coal fire produced a rising column of ionized carbonised gas that made it easy for lightning to travel along it (born out by the fact that 99% of the time it was chimneys that were struck by lightning). Since everything got cleaned up and coal fired power stations / lots of industry shut down a lot less lightning and thunder than I remember when I was a kid.