Why is there no lightning storms when it's snowing?

Question

or is there?

Answer 1

I too have seen lightning during heavy blizzards, perhaps one in ten of the heavy snowstorms I've experienced.

Answer 2

Yes, there is lightning when it snows...I've seen it. It is less common though and it has to do with the amount of lift air gets when it rises. Hot air rises higher, creating more friction and therefor more lightning. Cold air generally doesn't rise like that unless you get a really strong storm.
Also...it is really cool when it does happen. The thunder is muffled and it doesn't rumble as long. I think the snow acts like a damper on the sound. And the light doesn't travel as far either because it is blocked by the snow. It is kind of a weird feeling to be in thunder snow.

Answer 3

Excellent question Chooly! I frequently observed lightening and accompanying thunder during snow storms in Omaha Nebraska when I was stationed there with the Air Force in the late 1970s.
However, it is still fairly rare as you have noted. The reason? It is because there is often very little vertical motion associated with the clouds that produce snow but which is required to produce thunder and lightening. Snow falls in a more stable atmosphere.

Answer 4

When it is snowing there is usually no instability in the atmosphere. Instability is necessary for thundersorms, which produce lightning. Sometimes during strong winter storms there are small pockets of instability caused by strong dynamics in the middle to upper levels of the atmosphere. In these cases thundersnow has been known to occur.

Answer 5

Lightning is produced by cumulonimbus cloud. Cumulonimbus cloud is less common in cold areas but it has been recorded on every continent including Antarctica. Cumulonimbus can produce snow and does so if it is cold enough therefore you do get lightning and snow simultaneously. The areas where this would be most common would be mountainous areas.

Answer 6

Really, there can be lightning when it's snowing, just all the instability will have to come together all at the same time for it to develop in the snow clouds.

Answer 7

there actually is lightning during "snow storms". it usually happens when there is a strong storm with the amount of energy to create a winter storm watch or warning but it happens more often with blizzards. my own experience.

Answer 8

I've seen lightning during the snow too, but it was only once.

Answer 9

Here in NJ its not that rare because our northeasters as they are called bring in a lot of warmer, moist air from over the warmer Atlantic which with strong low pressure winds causes vertical development which favors "thundersnow". In the areas so affected , very large accumulations of snow are possible in a very short period of time. It can exceed several inches per hour.

Answer 10

Yes.In fact,i have experienced it here in Georgia during a snow
storm on Jan 2-Jan 3,2002.