Is there a limit as to how far north (or south) that a thunderstorm (or simply lightning flashes) can occur? When I look at a lightning map (such as Real Time Lightning Map :: LightningMaps.org ) I can see (at this moment) lightning along the shores of Hudson Bay above 60 degrees north, and near Arkangelsk (Russia) at 64 degrees north. The furthest south (at this moment) is in Northern Queensland (Australia) around 20 degrees south. I assume the climate and seasons (and possibly the time of day) could have an effect.
According to the Guiness Boook of World Records, the most northern lightning strike recorded was only 32 miles away from the North Pole. Lighting strikes above 85 degrees north aren’t exactly common, but they do happen.
So apparently the answer is that lightning can occur all the way to the poles.
Cite:
Thunderstorms need moisture, and Antarctica is the driest place on earth, especially away from its coast. So I understand the north pole may have lightning, but could the much larger and drier Antarctic interior?
On the other hand with the huge amount of ice and snow available on the surface, perhaps the storm can skip the moisture - freezing - ice - friction - lightning route and go straight to ice and friction and therefore lightning?
Seems logically possible. Hopefully someone knows
I guess part of the answer lies in how you define a thunderstorm. From a meteorologists point of view the defining characteristic of a thunderstorm isn’t the presence of lightning. Which sounds silly. But they worry about the characteristic thermodynamic energy flows etc. Whether any given thunderstorm contains lightning strikes is perhaps just a matter of how things develop. If you are an aviator, you probably don’t really care whether the thing is harbouring lightning, you care a great deal more about turbulence, icing and wind shear.
We know lightning can exist outside of thunderstorms. Tornadoes for instance, although one could argue that true tornadoes are an offshoot of thunderstorms. (Jupiter is another place, but that is a stretch for the question at hand.) The question about lightning in ice storms is really interesting. I’m going to guess yes - given enough energy. But maybe still requiring a vertical flows, not just simple horizontal winds. Probably quite rare. Not many people about to see it, but should be detected on the various trackers if it does.
Thundersnow is a real thing, but appears to be basically a conventional thunderstorm that snows. Wikipedia.