Have You Experienced Thundersnow This Winter Season?

[Gerrit Gulden]

Last night I was relaxing watching Tv, the snow was falling outside with the winds roaring to 50+mph. I went outside for a quick smoke and was watching the snow fall when all of a sudden I saw a familiar flash in the sky. I thought to myself maybe it is some transformer blowing and sure enough another flash occured in the sky and then a small rumble of thunder. it was very neat since this is my first Thundersnow encounter. I did grab the camcorder to see if I could capture anything but as soon as the lightning came it was gone. And to think I was going to have to wait till april/may to see some lightning. Hope is restored, lol.

Anyone else have thundersnow in there area this winter?

-gerrit

 

[Rob Satkus]

Back during the wonderful ice event of Dec 9/10, we had several rounds of thunder ice/sleet (mainly ice) especially during the early morning hours of the 10th. Even a couple of cg's that hit close enough to fire off numerous car alarms in the neighborhood.

Rob

 

[Angie Norris]

There was another event too, I think it was Dec 5-6. I was leaving work on the southwest side of OKC about midnight and was greeted by light snow (that had changed to rain by the time I got home to Norman), thunder, and lightning. Freaked my friends out, and made me quite happy .

 

[Brian Stertz]

We had a round of rain and sleet mix with cg's in a strong warm advection band several weeks ago here in Overland Park. No thundersnow yet though.

 

[Jacque Tiegs]

We had some a few weeks ago..I thought it was rain

 

[Michael Carlson]

We have had a weird string of convective snow showers on and off this winter and it seems with that type you get more thunder. It was really odd to hear at first. I walked out side and heard a rumbling and knew it was thunder but I knew it wasn't from any thunderstorm in the area. It sounds like a constant low rumble.

 

[Doug Lee]

It was really odd to hear at first. I walked out side and heard a rumbling and knew it was thunder but I knew it wasn't from any thunderstorm in the area. It sounds like a constant low rumble.

I haven't heard thunder during snow in a long time, but I do remember the sound being muffled. Snow is highly reflective to light,but sound is a different matter. If you are close enough to the strike, the sound should be sharper, but still slightly muffled.

I have noticed that snow tends to muffle all sounds, except spinning tires.

 

[J.K Oudshoorn]

I remember the ice event here in Cushing, OK at 9/10th of december brought alot of intracloud discharges and a few CG's farther away, but I've never seen so much lightning during a winter storm. It was awesome. The thunders sounded different then in the 'normal' thunderstorms, especcially the IC discharges sounded real soft during this storm.

I do not remember any real 'thundersnow' event this winter. In Holland we use to get one or a few each year.

 

[Joel Wright]

Well, can finally answer yes to the title of this thread. Thursday morning a cluster of elevated thunderstorms (some severe warned) moved northeast out of southeast Iowa into the colder air over us. What started out as thunder and moderate to heavy rain, changed to heavy sleet, and then heavy snow. All the while thunder and lightning continued. What's really interesting is one of the cells just one county to the south dropped 1" diameter hail that covered the ground until the following morning. The heavy snow only lasted about a half hour, but it was enough to deposit up to a slushy inch. Even though temps were above freezing, the rate of the snow was so intense it stuck to roadways and even caused some accidents in the area.

 

[D. Hayes]

odd I thought I had replied to this thread when it was first started. We did have some thundersnow in the afternoon around end of Jan. I jumped on the internet and looked up lightning in snow storms read what I could and ran back outside. Where I was eagarly waiting on a blizzard after the cracks. It was a pretty impressive snow fall.

 

[gschott]

Ha!! Here is my experience last night....leaving St. Paul MN to head home to Bemidji MN at 5:30 PM--sunny and low 60's....then comes the rain and lightning, then sleet and ice pellets and lightning, followed by snow and lightning!! What a crazy night!! I'm now looking out my window at over a foot of new snow!! Hey Mother Nature, it's APRIL!! Some crazy weather....

 

[Dann Cianca]

My dad called me from Butte, Montana on Friday evening to report thunder and lightning with snow and graupel. It's the third time in the past couple of years that he's called to say there was thundersnow in Butte.

However, in the 23 years that I lived there ... I didn't experience it once!

Must be global warming/cooling/changing/jumping/falling/running.

 

[Mike Pohlen]

So far, no thundersnow here in the southwest Twin Cities. We'll see what we can get later this week though with a system that could generate some convection and still have enough cold air to play with in the area.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Yes I have - in Reading, S England, yesterday (Sunday) morning. We were just heading to work in London (about 40 miles to our east) at around 7am. A showery trough/arctic front was moving from the north with a sharpening upper trough overspreading it. The snow intensified as it reached our area, with a single flash of lightning. The snow was very heavy, dumping 5cm in little over 25 mins, easiest the heaviest snow I've seen for a number of years, and certainly the highest rates the Reading area has seen for some time.

 

[Isaac Pato]

I saw two this year in my hometown of Lexington, MA. The more interesting storm was associated with a sharp arctic cold front that sparked numerous thundersnow squalls in S. New England on Feb 10. The one that came through my town put down several CGs and moderate/heavy snow. No accumulation though, as it quickly departed to the east, out to sea over Boston. I "chased" it after it left my area. Structurally, it was one of the better defined storms that I have seen in the Boston area, quite impressive for the middle of Feb.

I also saw one or two flashes on Jan. 14 during a nor'easter.