rolling thunder
Continuous sky rumble
Rolling thunder is thunder that arrives as a prolonged, continuous rumble rather than a single sharp crack, created when sound from a long lightning bolt reaches the ear at slightly different times.
The phrase extends to anything similarly sustained and ominous: rolling thunder of applause, the rolling thunder of approaching tanks.
Rolling Thunder was also the name of a major U.S. bombing campaign during the Vietnam War.
- lightningAtmospheric electrical discharge
- rumbleLow rolling sound
- stormSevere atmospheric disturbance
- storm cloudsRain-bearing atmospheric formations
- Vietnam WarCold-era Indochina military engagement
Bob Dylan · echo · bombing campaign · air raid · roar · airstrike · boom · protest movement · escalation · folk music · protest song · aerial warfare · napalm · crack · crashing · metaphor · drum · summer storm
- weather lorered sky, ring around moon, moon halos, halos, halo
- Thunderstormslightning, lightning strike, lightning flash, rumble, storm clouds
- storm soundsrumble, boom, crack, roar, howl
- Thunderrumble, boom, crack, peal, clap
- thunder soundsrumble, boom, crack, roar, crash
- Weather imagerylightning, snow scenes, mist, tempest, hail
rolling thunderthunderclap
Explosive atmospheric sound
crack of thunder · quick snap · gunshot · snap · whip crack
rolling thunderclear skies
Absence of cloud cover
calm · stillness · fair weather · blue sky · tranquility
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