Hatrack River Forum: Thunder Snow

This is topic Thunder Snow in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :

It's thunder snowing in the Carolinas. I swear, it's thundering and snowing at the same time.

I've never experienced anything quite like it.

Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :

That happened here in Toronto on Ash Wednesday. It was utterly unnerving to be in the middle of a snow storm and suddenly see a bright flash of lightening!

Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :

I bet that would be unnerving! I'm not seeing any lightening, just hearing some major thunder. I wondered why my dogs were flipping out. They hate thunder.

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

That happened to me in Canton, NY on an April evening where it went from spring to winter in a matter of hours.

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

quote:
That happened here in Toronto on Ash Wednesday. It was utterly unnerving to be in the middle of a snow storm and suddenly see a bright flash of lightening!

You stole my thunder, Reiko ( [Wink]

)! Although it's not uncommon in Toronto, I had never heard it before I started living here.

Posted by RackhamsRazor (Member # 5254) on :

That is awesome...it should come to Raleigh so I can see it [Smile]

Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :

Thundersnow is usually a symptom of convection within a band of snow. It sometimes preludes or coincides with heavy snow.

[Smile]

Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :

I'd never heard/seen that until earlier this year. It was snowing kittens and puppies out there and then the whole house shook with a huge BANG! We thought a tree fell over, but it was thunder. It was crazy.

Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :

I know what thundersnow is but I've never figured out the phenomenon of purple lightning.

Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :

Lightning's color is often determined by the amount of refraction in the light, from moisture or particles in the surrounding air. Also, the distance of the lightning can have an effect on the color. In my experience, lightning that's further away tends to have a yellow tint to it. That's not always true, but I've observed it often. I've actually got a lightning photo with orange and purple-ish lightning in the same frame.

Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :

For some reason made by refraction or whatever, I once sat in a parking lot and watched sky-wide arcs of deep purple lightning just streaking across the full of the open sky. Not a hint of blue in it, anywhere. And it was remarkably slow for lightning — it'd take about three seconds to reach across from the point of origin to the outermost tips. It was just crazy. It may have had something to do with the water in the atmosphere.

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Tammy:
It's thunder snowing in the Carolinas.

Not in my part. [Frown]

We only got crappy rain, but by "crappy" I actually mean "much-needed," considering the water shortage and all.

Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :

Thunder snowing? Are you sure it's not the sound of the steeds of the four horsemen, champing at the bit?

Just a thought...

It's misty here - and I'm stuck in an airport waiting for a replacement flight. I'd ratehr it were snowing.

Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :

anti_maven, my dogs are not religious. They told me it was thunder, just thunder.

School is canceled. No surprise there.

Carrie, it was a hit and miss kind of storm. Forsyth & Davidson County got hit. Surry County where a friend of mine lives just got a few snow flakes and no accumulation.

On a sad note, my kids are growing up. In the past, they'd be outside playing in this cold fun stuff the minute they woke up and realized they didn't have school.

I have one reading on the sofa and another happy to still be sleeping.

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

Actually, I'd like to partially recant. [Blushing]

Turns out that what I had thought was frost was actually frozen snow. We didn't get much (as in accumulation only on cars), and we definitely didn't get thunder ( [Frown]

), but there was more than rain.

Would've been cool to have the thunder snow, though. It reminds me of my favorite clip from the Weather Channel, where a clap of thunder seriously freaked out one of the "on scene" reporters during a heavy snow fall. [Smile]

Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Tammy:

On a sad note, my kids are growing up. In the past, they'd be outside playing in this cold fun stuff the minute they woke up and realized they didn't have school.

I have one reading on the sofa and another happy to still be sleeping.

Now they're both watching Finding Nemo.

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

Farmgirl posted that they had Thundersleet the other day, and Jon Boy posted about Thundersnow a few weeks ago. (Farmgirl is in Kansas, I think, and Jon Boy lives in Utah.) I experienced thundersnow once in Utah in 1989.

Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :

I missed those posts.

I've experienced earthquakes in California, Hurricanes in North Carolina, Tornados in Oklahoma, and crazy monsoons in Tucson. That was my first Thundersnow.