Blanchett said the several days of strong June sunshine and extreme heat had left a lot of energy in the atmosphere.
“A nearby cold front has moved in causing a highly unstable atmosphere,” he explained.
“The heat near the ground has been forced up into the freezing layers of the troposphere, cooling rapidly and creating giant cumulonimbus clouds and thundery downpours.”
He added: “Flash flooding can become a problem because the ground remains temporarily hot and baked solid meaning these sudden, intensive downpours cannot easily soak into the earth, drastically increasing the immediate flooding risk.”
Darren Redfern, who runs Dornoch Caravan and Camping Park, said he had never seen a thunderstorm like the one he witnessed on Thursday evening.
“It wasn’t just individual flashes of lightning, it was like strobe lighting and a constant rumble of thunder for probably about 15 or 20 minutes,” he told BBC Scotland News.
“After that we had hailstones, almost like small pebbles falling from the sky.
“Once the hailstones finished, the rain started and you could hardly see from one end of the site to the other because the rain was so heavy and thick.”
