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Thundersnow

Leandra said:
My old Slovak grandmother used to say that thunder in the winter is a very bad thing, a bad omen.

Did she ever say what it was bad omen for?

Like famine or wars, or a bad omen personally?
 
The first or second winter I was in my present apartment, in the late 1970s, Cincinnati experienced a nighttime thundersnow.

The next day the city was abuzz with the phenomenon - "Who ever heard of thunder in the wintertime?....How can it thunder and snow at the same time?....What has gone WRONG with the weather?"

But the local meteorologists pooh-poohed all of this: "The is nothing rare about thunder and snow together....It is a VERY common phenomenon."

But if thundersnow is all that common, why had none of us encounted it before or (for that matter) since?
 
OldTimeRadio said:
....But the local meteorologists pooh-poohed all of this: "The is nothing rare about thunder and snow together....It is a VERY common phenomenon."

But if thundersnow is all that common, why had none of us encounted it before or (for that matter) since?
It's rather like the much vaunted fact, as according to the BBC, that:
There are more tornadoes per square mile each year in Britain than the USA
Well, how come they make the news every time one happens, then?

Yeah, yeah, cos Britain is comparatively very small, but just goes to prove that statistics can be misleading.
 
I experienced thundersnow either last winter or the one before that during a very heavy snow fall in Newport, S. Wales. This was about 5/6 in the afternoon as I was leaving work.

It was quite impressive, and lasted for what seems to be a comparitavely long time, judging from what I've read here about other's experiences.

It's the only time I've experienced it - we don't get much snow in the Newport/Cardiff area.
 
Statistics

Stuneville, a few years ago my peaceful Northern Kentucky hometown had a higher murder rate than Detroit, Michigan.

But just for that one year. In actually the place has had three murders in its 135 year history and one of those (in the 1920s) doesn't really count, since the town was merely used to dispose of the body.
 
Re: ...

Tryphæna~ said:
EDIT: I might add that it was ONE flash of lightning and ONE clap of thunder. Very strange...
The first time I experienced real snow was my first year in Korea. It was as some of the above posters have said, that there was only one clap, but the thunder was like a muffled thump accompanied by a simultaneous flash. That was it. I thought nothing more about it for about ten minutes, then I looked outside and everything was blanketed in white. I didn't realise how rare it was.
 
So help me, the very evening after I published my "thundersnow" posting above (explaining how rare TS seems to be in this area), we EXPERIENCED thundersnow here in Cincinnati!

I didn't hear the thunder myself, but many others did, and these reports were mentioned on the local television news the next afternoon. The TV meteorologist actually called the phenomenon by that name, "thundersnow."
 
I've experienced it twice, once as a teenager in Wisconsin, prob 15 years ago now, once a few weeks ago, the day we had one of our dogs put to sleep (here in New England). The earlier incident didn't last long and wasn't an especially heavy snowstorm, the more recent incident lasted for hours, was very heavy snow, also lots of lightening. Kind of disturbing especially in light of having put our dog to sleep, and not being sure we'd done the right thing (but she'd just bitten someone for the second time). :cry:
 
A thundersnow happened about 6 years ago here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It sure was surprising- the snow started pouring down in a matter of seconds, when it was over after 5 minutes the snow was about 6 inches deep :eek:
 
Are there any records of people bring struck and killed by lightning during wintertime snowstorms and blizzards? I keep a fairly large lightning file, but I don't ever remember hearing of such a fatality. And lightning safety factsheets and FAQs don't seem at all concerned with the possibility.
 
It's snowing here, and I heard thunder rumbles a few minutes ago.
 
Thundersnow at Night

Hi All,

About 15 years ago when I lived in Scotland near a place called Kinross, I was taking my then girlfriend home at about 9pm, it was midwinter, snowing and dark. I had a 4x4 and it was only about 4 miles, all seemed normal except the snow was proving a bit tricky, as it was reflecting back from my headlights, when all of a sudden everything lit up and looked for all the world like someone had colour inverted what I was seeing (try the invert option in photoshop to get an idea). Then came a rumble of thunder and we realised what had happened. There was only about 3 more flashes and subseqent rumbles but it's a sight I'll never forget. It was kind of spooky but I was gutted when it came to an end. I'd often wondered how common it is. Thaks for the post OP.

Peace Flood
 
I have seen lightning & heard thunder during a snow storm, one January early evening in the mid 1990's over Watford, Herts.
Couldn't believe it at the time..........
 
I've experienced thunder / lightning with snow 3 times - once in Michigan circa 1973, once in Tennessee in the 1990's, and once in Minnesota in the mid-1970's.

I saw lightning on all 3 occasions, but heard the thunder in only 2.

All three involved a very heavy wet snowfall generated when very cold air collided with an unseasonably warm humid air mass.

I remember reading long ago that the usually well-defined boundary between the warm and cold airmasses was blamed for deflecting / muffling the thunder and making it so rare. At the time, it was claimed that hearing the thunder was more rare than seeing the lightning.

My favorite part isn't the thunder - it's the lightning. On 2 of my 3 encounters with the phenomena, I was walking outside in the heavy snowfall. The bright lightning flash made everything 'reverse / negative' - i.e., the white snow went dark against the background glare. Truly a psychedelic meteorological effect.... :D
 
I originally heard thundersnow when I was first in my present apartment, probably in December, 1977 (possibly December, 1978).

The next day at the bookstore at which I then worked, which catered largely to University of Cincinnati students and faculty, the thunder was the main topic of conversation. "How can it thunder in December?" None of us had ever heard it before.

But I've noticed it two or three times since.

Is thundersnow becoming more common?
 
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It might be. We just had lighting and thunder during a light snowstorm. This is in northern Indiana. A day after the start of spring..... :roll:
 
We had light snow a couple of days ago, and at one point there was a flash of lightning and then a very long, drawn-out rumble of thunder that went on for far longer than normal. But that was the only one. After that it was just normal light snow again.
 
Exactly why is "thundersnow" still considered a Fortean subject? The term is spoken quite frequently, easily and freely by our local meteorologists, both those employed by the government and by the electronic news media.
 
It might be because thunder and lightning is commonly accepted to occur when the conditions are humid, so it's odd to see it accompanied by snow. I don't think I've ever seen it.
 
About 20 years ago I was an exchange student in Colorado - and I seem to remember seeing that phenomenon there during a storm when cold air pushed across the mountains displacing much warmer air.

The locals weren't too surprised by this, as I recall.

Anyone from that area here who could confirm?
 
Stand by! Stand by!

January 17, 2009
Snow and gales to batter Britain

Paul Simons

Severe gales and snow are being forecast for large areas of Britain this weekend.

The Met Office has warned that gusts of wind could reach 100mph in the far North and up to 80mph in the South West. It has forecast possible damage to trees and buildings, and disruption to transport.

Up to 25mm of sleet or hail is expected to fall in many parts of the country overnight while snow is forecast for higher ground.

The gales could be accompanied by a phenomenon known as thundersnow, when thunder and lightning occur during storms of snow and sleet.

The cause of the stormy weather is a jet streak — a super-fast burst of speed in the jet stream. During the winter the jet stream — a band of wind a few miles high in the atmosphere — usually runs at about 160km/h (100mph). It is generated by a clash of cold air from the Arctic colliding with warmer air from the sub-tropics.

Over the past few days, the jet stream has been invigorated, pushing out the persistent anticyclone that sat over Britain for three weeks and brought such bitterly cold weather.

Now a burst of extra speed has been injected into the jet stream and as it reaches Britain it will hit about 370km/h (230mph).

This powerful surge is detonating an explosive Atlantic storm, which will intensify rapidly as it hits the northwest tip of Scotland before swinging off to Iceland. Because the jet stream is also passing to the south of Britain it is leaving the country exposed to bitterly cold Arctic air streaming down from eastern Canada and Greenland.

As this frigid air mass sweeps over the warm waters of the North Atlantic’s Gulf Stream it makes the atmosphere highly unstable and also scoops up plenty of moisture on the long sea journey — the ideal recipe for heavy rainfall or snow showers. The falls of snow could then turn into blizzards and pile up into drifts in the howling gale-force winds.

Exactly what causes thundersnow is not understood, but it accompanies heavy falls of snow or hail and is a feature of a highly unstable atmosphere, as cold air rushes over much warmer seas and generates huge cumulonimbus clouds.

With such a volatile atmosphere, forecasters are finding it difficult to predict the weather beyond the weekend. However, there are signs of even worse conditions next week, as another Atlantic depression drives fierce winds towards southern Britain with a blast of more cold air. If that freezing cold air is driven close enough to the ground it could produce several centimetres of snow over much of the country.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 531920.ece
 
We had thundersnow last night in the Pennines. Also a strange fast moving, zig-zagging light which I can only imagine was a tea light balloon caught in snowstorm air currents. The electricity company were checking all the poles at first light so perhaps someone reported it as a short?

You wait for ages for an exotic phenomenon then they all come at once.
 
I don't think we had any thundersnow, although a lightning strike did knock out the Coastguard comms mast!

And yesterday we had wind, rain, hail, snow, and finally blue skies and sunshine!
 
Caught on video!

Lightning strike 'surprises' Kent

A couple speaking to the BBC about the severe snow conditions received a shock as an unpredicted lightning storm hit Kent on Sunday evening.

The lightning bolt, and subsequent thunder crash which followed, caught the BBC's Jenny Hill and some passers-by by surprise.

The ferocity of the lightning bolt can be seen in slow motion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7864183.stm
 
We've got beautiful snow here in Brighton, I'm just waiting for the thunder...
 
I thought I heard thundersnow earlier, but it was next door putting the wheelie bin out. :(
 
Yay!

We had a great rumble of thunder during the snow falling about 20 minutes ago; my very first thundersnow :D
 
Explosive mix of cold and warm air could erupt into thundersnow
Paul Simons, Times Weatherman

It looks like snowballs and tobogganing are likely for much of Britain this weekend. The Met Office expects another belt of snow to hit northern Scotland today with a fall of up to 15cm (6in), rapidly streaming into northern England this evening followed by the Midlands, East Anglia and the South East overnight to give around 5cm (2in) snow — not quite enough to build a decent-sized snowman. The eastern side of the country will get most of the snow, as frigid air from the Arctic sweeps down with temperatures dropping to -5C (23F) in the Midlands. Western regions can expect slightly milder conditions, bringing rain and sleet, before the cold air arrives tomorrow morning. Ice on the roads could create treacherous driving conditions.

Unlike the snowfalls we’ve had so far in this freeze, the next outburst originates from the Arctic. As bitterly cold air sweeps down over hundreds of miles of relatively warm sea it will pick up moisture, turning it into snow. The explosive mix of cold and warm air could erupt into thundersnow over Scotland, when thunder and lightning erupt during snowstorms. To add to this tempestuous weather, thundersnows are expected to erupt again tomorrow, with up to 20cm (8in) of snow in northern counties of Northern Ireland and up to 15cm (6in) in Scotland, northwest England and North Wales.

Forecasting snow can be challenging. Just a degree or two change in temperature can make the difference between snow, sleet or rain. With so much at stake for driving conditions, road gritting, and so on, it’s one of the hardest jobs in weather forecasting. The Met Office did extremely well, predicting the hefty snowfalls on Thursday night, which were fairly localised to eastern counties of England.

In such tempestuous weather, though, the forecasters are struggling to see even a couple of days ahead. The weather pattern is finely balanced in a battle between mild air from the south trying to push out cold air from the north. It looks like the mild air could win, but it could produce even more dramatic snowfalls before conditions settle down, with signs of possible big snows to come on Monday and Tuesday.

etc...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 962088.ece
 
We have thunder and lightning and heavy hail here at the moment. (Both come from active cumulonimbus clouds.)

The hail is lying on roads and grass, and might make driving tricky. It will also chill the ground, making it more likely that any snow we get will settle.

The local forecast is for sun this pm: we'll see!
 
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