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Thundersnow. It May Be The Most Misunderstood Weather Phenomena In The World Today,


Jane Louise

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Posted
  • Location: Norwich, Norfolk
  • Weather Preferences: Heavy Snow, Thunderstorms & Summer Plumes
  • Location: Norwich, Norfolk

Never seen Thundersnow in good old Southport, but I would think Its more likely to happen here in Norwich. This Winter perhaps...(and the clanger drops) laugh.png

But yeah, its certainly an unusual phenomena and quite interesting.

Edited by chris93
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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Brongest,Wales
  • Weather Preferences: Stormy autumn, hot and sunny summer and thunderstorms all year round.
  • Location: Brongest,Wales

I've never seen it myself but I can remember my Grandad saying that there was a flash of lightning and clap of thunder when some snow showers passed over his house sometime back in 2005.

He's dead now but he lived in the same region as me but further to the West in Dunster I think.

Edited by wimblettben
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Posted
  • Location: Co.Tyrone
  • Location: Co.Tyrone

I have seen and heard it once it must be a good 20 years ago in my area I remember being a wee bit freaked out by it as I was 15 years old at the time, one of those rare things I have been privledge to see along with "moonbows" which I have seen a couple of times!!

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Posted
  • Location: Watford, Hertfordshire, 68.7m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Humid Continental Climate (Dfa / Dfb)
  • Location: Watford, Hertfordshire, 68.7m ASL

Yup in the UK on Jan 28th, 2004 but I dont think I've had it here in Canada though - maybe something to do with dry air in winter and being 1000 miles away from the sea

Southern Quebec/Ontario Province's are the most likely place's you will get thunder during snow as they have the influence of the great lakes but only in early winter when the water hasn't frozen over yet. Most thundersnow events in North America are mostly reported during lake effect snow. I think with the rockies on your door step the cold air is forced down the eastern side of the mountain not allowing the right conditions to form.

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Posted
  • Location: Newbury
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine and snow but not together
  • Location: Newbury

I've seen it when that storm charged across the midlands and south in i think it was jan 2003. Most amazing experience.not the journey home I grant you but spectacular. For those you haven't seen it yet you will do and boy is it worth waiting for. ;)

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Posted
  • Location: Folkestone, Kent 101ft/30m ASL
  • Location: Folkestone, Kent 101ft/30m ASL

Once, early 90's - I think maybe 1991 (the winter with LOTS of snow?) - I was watching tv with the parents when there was a huge flash of lightning followed by a loud rumble of thunder. We all looked out the window to see if snowing heavily with several inches on the ground where it'd been clear only a while before. There were several more flashes which lit the snow up a funny greeny colour - not seen it since though!

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Posted
  • Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms and heat, North Sea snow
  • Location: Newcastle upon Tyne

Incredible thundersnow last winter - on the 28th/29th November we had a few storms, including one which spewed spectacular forked lightning and loud, albeit muffled thunder. The snowflakes sometimes seem larger during thundersnow, and the snowfall rates can be very intense. Tyne and Wear got 15-20cm fresh snow from that event!

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Posted
  • Location: Sunderland
  • Weather Preferences: cold
  • Location: Sunderland

Incredible thundersnow last winter - on the 28th/29th November we had a few storms, including one which spewed spectacular forked lightning and loud, albeit muffled thunder. The snowflakes sometimes seem larger during thundersnow, and the snowfall rates can be very intense. Tyne and Wear got 15-20cm fresh snow from that event!

I got 12cm of new snow on the morning after. Absolutely amazing event as you say alza. Always sticks in my mind from last winter.

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Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

How lucky are some of you!!biggrin.png

Interesting posts, I gathered the NE would be more inclined to see thundersnow, more then other areas at least! The NE has done pretty well for storms this year too. I'm moving there now whistling.gif

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Posted
  • Location: Sunderland
  • Weather Preferences: cold
  • Location: Sunderland

How lucky are some of you!!biggrin.png

Interesting posts, I gathered the NE would be more inclined to see thundersnow, more then other areas at least! The NE has done pretty well for storms this year too. I'm moving there now whistling.gif

As long as your okay with the lower health standards and higher unemployment - feel free to join us!

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Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

As long as your okay with the lower health standards and higher unemployment - feel free to join us!

Sounds like Gloucester City then!!rolleyes.gif

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Posted
  • Location: South East UK
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms/squalls/hoar-frost/mist
  • Location: South East UK

Ive seen distant lightning in winter, with heavy snow showers in coastal norfolk and suffolk, and heard thunder a couple of times with heavy snow showers.

January 28th 2004 i saw thunder and lightning ,the squally cold front was moving through fast, so i only saw two flashes, the low topped convection and widespread thunder were rather odd during that day.

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Posted
  • Location: The North Kent countryside
  • Weather Preferences: Hot summers, snowy winters and thunderstorms!
  • Location: The North Kent countryside

We've had it 3 years in a row here.

You always get people the next day proclaiming it's a sign the world is coming to an end. I had my hair done last year on the day after thundersnow happened and all the hairdressers were going on about how it isn't normal and it meant 2012 might be real and it meant the world was coming to an end. I just sat there like thisfool.gif .

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  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: Runcorn, Cheshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snowy winters, hot, sunny springs and summers.
  • Location: Runcorn, Cheshire

I've never experienced thunder snow, but last December we had a snow storm and a bit.

Massive flakes, next thing you know, you're being pelted on the head by torrential grauple, and it dumped about 3 inches of snow in half an hour. Then back to snow! The Irish Sea is the best thing ever at times! :D

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  • 11 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms :D
  • Location: Cheltenham,Glos

Inside the Mystery of 'Thundersnow'

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It was an afternoon eight years ago that David Schultz will never forget. Snowflakes were falling down as big chunks and bolts of light flashed through the snow-whitened sky. Then there was the sound of strangely muted thunder.

"It was a muffled rumble," remembered Schultz, who was then a graduate student in Albany, N.Y., and is now a meteorologist at NOAA's Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla. "It was brilliant."

So-called thundersnows are rare events that feature thunder, lightning and heavy snowfall. Despite their drama — but perhaps because of their infrequency — very little is known about them.

Schultz is one of the few U.S. meteorologists to have investigated the storms and now another researcher, Patrick Market of the University of Missouri in Columbia, hopes to learn more. Market recently received a $460,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to find out how often the storms occur and why.

"The thunder and lightning are the attention grabbers," Market said. "But they are really symptoms of a larger issue — sometimes these storms can generate an awful lot of snow over a small area."

Muted by Snow

Case in point: In January 1994, a huge storm deluged Louisville, Ky., in about two feet of snow. People throughout the city recalled seeing flashes of light and growls of thunder. A similar storm struck Columbia, Mo, a year later. Thundersnow storms are more common in the Great Lakes region and in the mountains, but remain rare even there.

Schultz has estimated that only 0.07 percent of recorded snowstorms are associated with thunder. And, among thunderstorms, only 1.3 percent of these storms in cool seasons feature snow. Part of the problem may lie in documenting the storms. Shultz points out that heavy snow has a way of obscuring sound and light — the telltale signs of a thundersnow.

"Where you might hear a regular thunderstorm from four to five miles away, you may not hear or see a thundersnow from a mile away," he said.

Despite the spotty record on the storms, ancient texts prove people have been witnessing them for centuries. Descriptions of the events date to at least as early as the 19th century in Western literature, says Schultz. And Chinese texts dating to 1099 A.D. reveal that Chinese warriors believed the storms were precursors to an enemy attack.

Thundersnows may have seemed mystical in earlier centuries, but now scientists understand a mix of warm air and moisture are required to brew them.

Churning Charges

As a storm cloud gathers up warmer air (such as air over a lake or ocean surface), the air rises in the cloud's structure and creates a churning of air masses within the cloud. This turbulence mixes snow crystals and supercooled water droplets in the cloud and the turbulence knocks off electrons from the water particles, causing positive and negative charges in the cloud to separate.

The negative charges collect at the base of the cloud and are attracted to positive charges either on the ground or in nearby clouds. As the negative charges rush toward the positive charges, the positive charges rise and meet them and this creates a bolt of lightning. The lightning heats the air to about 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the air to quickly expand. The air then cools and contracts, creating a "clap" of thunder.

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  • 3 months later...
Posted
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Snowy Weather
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.

Just want to pop this in here. BBC N24 report of the heavy snow during Thames Streamer event Feb 2nd 2009,

from near Dartford, Kent.

I heard 4 cracks of thunder in the early hours of that morning here in S.E.London, around 10 miles west from where this report was shot.

Regards,

Tom.

Edited by TomSE20
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Posted
  • Location: Condorrat, Cumbernauld G67
  • Location: Condorrat, Cumbernauld G67

Can't say thundersnow is something i've experienced too much (although I am sure there was a rumble of thunder years ago before a major blizzard) can't remember ever seeing any lightning during snow though.................

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