why do i not see lightning in the winter, in bad snow storms?

Answer 1

Actually, I have seen lightning during a snow storm, but is is very uncommon. Lightning is most commonly occurs during atmospheric disturbances that involve significant temperature changes on each side of the front. Hot warm air rises rapidly over the cool dense air. This fast rising air generates the charged particles that result in the lightning.

Most thunderstorms occur during warmer weather, since there is generally more heat and moisture available. During the storm that I observed, we were on the cold side of the front experiencing freezing conditions, while the warm side was about 20 degrees Farienheit warmer. The lightning wasn't nearly as intense, but we did have falling snow and occasional lightning.

Answer 2

You just haven't been where it happens, yet. In January, 1989, I was going to school at Columbia College in Columbia, MO. I was walking to school one morning in a blizzard. There were numerous flashes of lightning during that storm. So much so, that I used that kind of storm for a basis in a short Civil War story I wrote.

The student walked into his cold classroom. He was the first in the room. This was an older building, and had steam radiators for its heat source. I used the lightning for a vehicle to send the student into the past.

The student was reaching to turn the heat on by turning the valve that does so. Just as the student's hand started to turn the valve--lightning struck the radiator, knocking the student out, causing a coma, and sending the student into the past.

These type storms are not typical of snow storms in the Midwest, but they do occur. They also occur in ice and sleet storms.

I have been in other winter storms where lightning and thunder are present. I'm certain if you contact the American Meteorological Society they will be happy to provide you with details about this type of snow storm.

Hank Feral

Answer 3

As was already stated, lightning is only present in storms with moderate to strong updrafts. Updrafts only occur when there is atmospheric instability. Here's a brief (and incomplete!) synopsis to explain instability:

You should know from school that a gaseous "parcel" will cool if it expands. You should also know that the air gets thinner with increasing altitude. A rising parcel of air (such as what happens in a thunderstorm's updraft) therefore cools as it does so. Air (that is not saturated with moisture, i.e. 100% humidity) cools at the rate of about 6 degrees F for every 1000 feet it rises. Lets say air near the ground is 82 degrees. If a t-storm causes that air, that parcel, to lift to 5000 feet altitude, it would cool to about 82-(5x6)=52 degrees. Now, if the ambient air into which it rises
is only 45 degrees, that 52 degree air (parcel) will continue rising, since it is warmer than the ambient air, and heat rises!

That is instability in a nutshell.

Furthermore, there is moisture in that parcel. While an updraft is ongoing, the parcel, at some altitude, cools to its dewpoint (and there is 100% humidity), and condensation occurs as the cooling beyond saturation (as the air continues to rise and expand) "squeezes" the evaporated moisture out. (storm cloud!). Since condensation is an exothermic reaction, the condensation releases heat, further adding to the instability. Freezing is also exothermic, but lesser so than condensation.

In winter, the temperatures near the ground are usually quite cool/cold, obviously. The mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere are colder still, but it is unusual for the difference to be great enough for instability to exist. Also, water molecules are usually already below freezing temperature at all altitudes even down to the ground, even though they may be in a gaseous state, so any updraft that occurs lacks the release of heat that condensation releases in a spring/summer thunderstorm.

That's why winter storms rarely have updrafts strong enough to create lightning and thunder.

Answer 4

Actually I've seen it happen before. Warm air masses aren't as abundant in the winter, but when a warm air mass rushes over a cold air mass on the ground, lightning will occur. The surface temperature is just such that the precipitation will fall as snow.

Just google search "lightning in snow storms" for more info.

Answer 5

the ambience needs to have some starting to be action in it for lightning to happen. in the summer time it really is basic because the ambience can develop into very risky with dynamics that rigidity air to upward thrust. in the course of the wintry climate, there is not any longer a lot moisture in the ambience and the ambience would not cool with top very right now. it is a sturdy concern. to be sure that lightning to happen in the wintry climate, some instability ought to be modern in the ambience alongside with solid develop to get it to the point the position that is risky and to assist in the upward action of the air. This setup is done at the same time as there is speedy cooling of the ambience with top (steep lapse expenses) that enable for a layer of instability in the ambience. The compelled develop can include a great the front, jet streak overhead, or something else which could grant top aspect divergence and/or decrease aspect convergence.

Answer 6

Have you also noticed that we get these small electric shocks when we touch metal in winters but not in summers.
The cold air is more conductive than warm air.
Same things happen up in the sky, the charge never gets to build up in high quantities and gets released in small not that noticeable sparks.
For lightning it is necessary to have a charge build up and then a spectacular release.
Thank God that we never build up that much charge that we create lightning from our hands.

Answer 7

It takes tall clouds created by convection to produce lightning. Snow clouds a very close to the ground, this mis because at low temperatures water vapor condenses very rapidly. If the temperature is low enough there is no water vapor and it becomes to cold to snow.