Thundersnow!

[Andrew Khan]

Originally posted by Angie Norris
I've seen thundersnow once, in E TN during the Superstorm of 1993. The thunder woke me up and I was like \"what the ****\". Got up just in time to see a very muted lightning bolt in heavy blowing snow :shock: . In Norman a few years back, we had a convective freezing rain/sleet event, when the frozen precip hitting the hotel window woke me up (I guess that would have been thundersleet? :shock: ) . That was pretty freaky, too.
Angie

That might have been the event that I am recalling, for sure.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Vid

here is a rare clip of thundersnow caught on tape I found on the internet.

http://www.mnstormchasers.org/alex/jan12005.wmv

Enjoy

 

[David Draun]

Originally posted by rdewey+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rdewey)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-Joel Wright

The first thundersnow I ever witnessed was in the December '87 blizzard. I was only in fifth grade at the time. I remember it was snowing heavily as I went to bed that evening, and was awaken after midnight to howling winds and crashing thunder. I remember looking out my window and it was snowing and blowing so hard I couldn't see the neighbor's house across the street. I distinctly remember sleet mixed in too, I could hear it hitting the windows. The winds were gusting up to 60mph. The lightning was quite frequent too as I remember.

Man, I would love to see the surface map, a satellite image, or a radar image from that night. I still haven't seen anything like that since.

I pulled up the "Daily Weather Map" for December 15, 1987... It shows a fairly impressive compact SFC low of 980MB over LOT with an impressive precipitation shield (along with sustained SFC winds of 30-35KNTS). General QPF amounts on the cold side of the storm were .75 to 1.00 inches, with some areas getting close to 1.25 to 1.50 inches for storm totals (particularly near the IA/IL line, and southern WI). The system basically looks like what was seen over the Northern Plains with this past system...

EDIT (NWS Information):

December 15, 1987
A powerful winter storm produced 6 to 12 inches of snow in an area from Quincy to Rockford to Chicago. Winds gusting as high as 75 to 90 mph produced blizzard conditions, downed power lines, and drifted roads closed. Snow totals included 11.4 inches in Rockford, 9.1 inches at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, 11.2 inches in Moline, and 8.9 inches in Peoria. The storm system also produced thunderstorms which lasted from 2 to 4 hours, an unusual length of time for a winter storm. The thunderstorms also produced sleet and hail, with 3/4 inch hail reported in Joliet.

MKX - December 14-15, 1987 - South half - Blizzard (gusts to 73 mph) - 10 to 17 inches of snow. Madison and Milwaukee had 13 inches.

[/b]

I remember that morning. It was the last day of school before Christmas Break, and Boom! Canclelled, no class Christmas Party! The lightning was vivd, frequent, and cloud to ground, like a summer thunderstorm. It was sure wierd at that young age to be waking up to violent thunderstorms in December, with snow even. I remember the thunder shaking the house! 9.1 inches at O'hare? The magic number for school closings was 8 No wonder I don't remeber having a class Christmas party in 1st grade. :?

 

[David Brookshier]

I have never seen thundersnow do any of you guys have any pics if so please show them off it would defenitly be something to see. We don't get many snow storms out here in Texas and I have spent many years in Colorado living through both the blizzard of 1982 and the blizzard of 98 with countless snow storms and never once in that time did any of them produce a single current of lightning that I ever saw. I must have been in all the wrong snow storms.

 

[Ronnie Bradley]

My dad has witnessed thundersnow while driving through north central Arizona on US-66 / I-40 (Flagstaff area). I was too young to remember it. However, I have witnessed thundersleet. I think it was in December, 1990 (day unknown, but it happened during the late evening). It was about 8 or 10 degrees F outside; a potent storm blew in rapidly and dropped about 3" of sleet on the ground. Frequent CG lightning strikes were happening as well, with a couple hitting within a 1/4 mile of my location.
And... in January 1988, a powerful snowstorm moved across central Arkansas and dropped 15 to 20" of snow. It caused schools in my area to be shut down for almost 2 weeks! Whether or not there was any lightning with the snowstorm remains to be answered. I have heard reports about it but I guess I slept through it :? .