My husband is a 4th generation farmer. Here in Nebraska there IS lightening during snowstorms. But according to info handed down to him from his Grandfather lightening in December predicts destructive hail in the same area the following spring/summer. I’ve only seen it lightening twice in about forty years in December, but both times it hailed badly the following June/July, destroying our entire garden. One of those times it broke every window in our house.
When it snows at night here in Denver, the falling flakes reflect so much of the city lights that it is bright enough to read a newspaper out in the 'burbs! So, there certainly is lightening during snowstorms!
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or did you mean lightning, as in thunderstorms?
Here, it is called “Thundersnow”, and it happens somewhat rarely.
Most weather systems which will generate significant snowfall do not have the warm air/cool air inversions which usually cause severe storms (hail, lightning, tornadoes, etc.) During the summer, the heat causes local “hot spots” which lead to local thunderheads, sometimes quite severe. Occasionally, “squall lines”—a line of severe thunderstorms—form, generating strong winds, hail and possibly tornadoes.
The weather systems necessary to create powerful updrafts which lead to thunderstorms are relatively uncommon during the cold months of winter, but not unheard-of.
You say you are in Nebraska. That is right in what is called “Tornado Alley,” as I’m sure you know. Severe weather is the norm for that area, so, whether there was thundersnow the preceding winter or not, it is almost a given that there will be destructive hail the following Spring/Summer.
Also, I can’t see how a weather system would have an appreciable effect six months later, unless that system was a part of an overall climate for that area.
I assume you are referring to this column?
Wait. Twice in 40 years it supposedly snowed and cracked lightning and you had hail in June/July.
I suppose you never had hail in June or July in the other 38 years?
Yes, it does hail here once or twice a year. What I was talking about was hail that destroyed “everything” in it’s path, much like a tornado. And not one farm or two, but mile after mile of damage. IE: 20 x the normal amount.
Also, it’s different than what you call “thundersnow”. What I saw and heard was actual lightening and thunder around the second or third week in December both times.
I live in Upper Michigan and have never seen it lightning in a snowstorm in my lifetime. I have seen lightning in hail storms and have seen thunderstorms in january but it has rained during those storms. I have even seen a snowstorm on the Forth of July in Hancock during the fireworks. Just because I haven’t seen lightning in a snowstorm doesn’t mean it can’t happen though, all it means is that I haven’t seen it.
Ummm… what ever definition would there be for Thundersnow - We had it in the Seattle area last winter, and there was lightning and thunder. No destructive hail storms here this summer.
When I lived in Kansas City MO, we had thundersnow, (thunder and lightning during a snowstorm) two winter in a row, no significant hail the next summers.
We had damaging hail two summers in a row and no thundersnow the previous winters.
On Uranus, the winds are FIERCE!
thundersnow can happen when there are air mass clashes that produce thunderstorms that occur in winter.
from the article likely referred to:
“A true scientist knows you can’t draw conclusions from a sample size of one.”
two events in forty years is not much better than one.
thundersnow storms don’t seem nearly as severe in intensity as thunderstorms. though you aren’t as likely to personally experience them because the lightning and thunder aren’t noticed as far in a heavy snow storm.
[emphasis added—DHMO]
When it is cold enough to snow, and a weather system strong enough to form a thunderstorm develops, you get lightning and thunder during a snowstorm. This is “Thundersnow.” What are you experiencing that is different from this?
We get maybe one or two storms like this every year on the eastern plains in Colorado (I live in the Denver area,) which is immediately adjoining Nebraska on the north-eastern border of the State. “Tornado Alley” starts pretty much in downtown Denver, stretching from near the Canadian border in North Dakota to southern Texas, and east to Ohio. Nebraska is centrally located in this swath, and is subject to a dynamic climate which produces many severe storms every year. Thunder and lightning during snowstorms in the winter, damaging hail and tornadoes in the spring and summer are a consequence of the unstable weather patterns common to this area.
I am still perplexed at what mechanism would cause a weather system in the winter to still have an effect six months later, and yet is NOT a part of the regional climate of severe weather patterns.
[Also, FYI, lightening means making a color a lighter tint, lightning is a weather phenomenon characterized by an electric discharge, usually in the thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of volts.]
I live outside Detroit and I can not remember thunder and lightning during snow storms. However last winter it happened at least twice.
I must live too far north to witness this event. I have been within a hundred feet of lightning strikes at my present home at least twenty times in the last twenty years. It hits the trees and knocks the tops off or kills them. I wonder how many strikes there actually were, I was gone more than I was here. I have lost a lot of tall trees over the years. If the trees weren’t here it would hit the house, the pines are about a 80-90 feet higher than my two story home.
I’ve seen thundersnow twice in New Jersey.
A quick search for thundersnow brings up 23 other SDMB columns on the subject.
I live in Wisconsin and saw such an event at the end of this last winter. I heard some rumbling and thought it was just the kids running around the house. Later I heard it again while sitting in my living room, but this time I also saw a flash outside. When I sat by the window my suspicions were confirmed that there indeed was thunder and lightning while it was snowing.
It was the heavy/wet type of snow so I’m not sure if that might have something to do with it. This was the only time I’ve encountered this phenomenon that I can remember.
The problem in this discussion isn’t whether or not there is “thundersnow,” which many of us have see/heard. The question is does thundersnow cause devastating hail storms six months later?
I’ve heard what I thought may have been thunder during snow storms, but there was the possiblity the cracks were sonic booms.
Then, when driving a couple of years ago through snow, I saw lightning and heard the thunder. That doesn’t mean the other times weren’t sonic booms, but it means plausible deniability by the air force.