Can you have Severe Thundersnow?

[mrobinson]

Last time I saw thundersnow was in Oct 1997 and the power was out for 10 days afterwards.

It was really warm that fall and then we had that snowstorm that dumped a whole lot of snow on tree's that still had leaves on them. Tree damage here was unreal and there was millions of dollars in damages from tree's breaking and falling onto houses, cars and powerlines.

It was the most beautiful snowstorm I had ever seen. I remember hearing the constant rumble of thunder and watching the lightning reflect off the snow . I also remember the pop pop pop pop pop sound and wondering what in the heck that was. POP POP POP all night long. We found out in the morning when ya realized that popping noise was tree branches from all over the city buckleing with the weight of the snow on them. I don't think there was a tree in the city that was undamaged.

 

[Robert Dewey]

There was a confirmed tornado from a snow squall here in MI in 1987

Intellicast:

April 10, 1987 -
a tornado touched down briefly near Bay Mills, Michigan from of all things -- a snowsquall!

Website: http://www.intellicast.com/Almanac/Midwest...l/content.shtml

My guess is that it was a waterspout that moved onshore, briefly producing weak F0 damage...

 

[Geoff Boyle]

Thundersnow squalls have been known to happen in northern BC Canada. I saw my first a couple of years ago, but it wasn't very strong. However, I've heard the ranchers say thundersnow squalls are quite common up there.

 

[Matteo CalzÃ]

Here in northern Italy thundestorms are rare in winter.
When we have them, they are often "snowy".

The last I saw ? 15 december 2000, a brief snowshower with some lights and thunders.

 

[Angie Norris]

I've seen thundersnow once, during the Superstorm of 1993 (around here known as the blizzard of '93). The thunder woke me up about 7am, and I remember thinking "What was that? It's supposed to be snowing...not raining :roll: " Well, it was snowing, and we ended up with 2 feet of snow! :shock:
One time in Norman a couple of years ago, I saw thundersleet, which was kind of freaky. About 2am, there was freezing rain, sleet, all in a bizarre late Feb convective event during the NSSL conference. Talk about a bunch of freaked out met-type people...that was THE topic of conversation at breakfast!! :shock:
I'd wonder if a blizzard warning takes priority over a severe thunderstorm warning. Wind would be the only criteria for a severe warning, and a blizzard begins at wind over 30 knots, with blowing snow and reduced visibility (thinking out loud here, y'all...jump in with comments, correction or opinion )

Angie

 

[Steven Williams]

Thundersnow would be quite common in the high country. But it is rare at lower levels. I have observed thundersnow a couple of times in southern New Zealand at sea level. This thunder snow was caused by cold advection. Polar air moving over warm seas, leading to deep convection.
Problem for cold advective thundersnow is, as the thickness drops, the tropopause drops, and the convection often ends up too shallow for thunder.

The thundersnow in central and eastern USA would be the warm type. Warm moist air (relatively speaking) is behind the convection, not cold northern air. But the cold northern air undercuts the moist air aloft lowering the freezing level to ground level. So you end up with winter conditions on the surface and a weather system that has the moisture and energy of a warmer season weather event. Not sure what would create the convective forcing, I'm not a meteorologist. Possibly frontal lift, convergence.........

Is it possible to get a severe thunderstorm with snow. Perhaps not. The convection in warm advective thundersnow situation is elevated, so squalls, large hail, tornadoes much less likely.

My thoughts anyway.

 

[rdale]

"I'd wonder if a blizzard warning takes priority over a severe thunderstorm warning."

If there's a Blizzard you aren't outside or in any danger... If you have a SVR warning issued, what would you do to protect yourself that you aren't already?

- Rob

 

[Steven Williams]

Both warnings (svr ts/blizzard) would have equal priority.

Anyway, blizzards and severe thunderstorms in the same location is a bit of a contridiction. Would be interesting though. A tornado becoming snow wrapped. That would be good to get on video. :shock:

 

[David Shohami]

Most snow events in Jerusalem (Israel), which occur on average 1-3 times a year, have thundersnow. Our snow storms are the result of deep 500mb polar lows and troughs coming down from eastern Europe to the eastern Mediterranean. When they move over the relatively warm Mediterraean Sea (16-18 degrees C) the cold fronts associated with them are quite fierce. The strongest thundersnow storms I remember occured with a temperature profile of around -3 at 850mb, -15 at 700mb, and -33 at 500mb, but they also occur at 2-3 degrees warmer.
The lightning associated with these storms is much stronger than most ordinary thunderstorms over here, and in most cases the thunder is instant with the lightning, since the tops of the clouds are low and everything is closer to the ground.
2 feet of snow in a day are not rare in Jerusalem, or 4-5 feet in the high Mount Hermon (1600-2200 meters).