How come there's no lightning in snow storms?

Answer 1

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.

Yes, there is lightning when it snows. 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 2

Cool question.
I'm not a weather expert, but there seem to be a few differences between snow storms and rain storms.

Warm weather storms that produce lightning seem to have a great deal of air moving upward, being cooled and flowing down again. This is what leads to tornados and such. It would seem that the air flow would carry charges. This doesn't seem to happen in cold weather storms as often. I have seen combination storms where there was rain, snow, and lightning though.

It just seems that rain storms are much more energetic than snow storms. They also tend to happen due to evaporation, where hot moist air rises quickly, and is cooled in the higher atmosphere. These quick forming storms seem to be really violent.

I'm thinking it's due to the charges transfered in these energetic storms.

I could be way off base though.

Answer 3

there can be lighting in snow storms - it happens very rarely - just 3 weeks ago oklahoma experienced some lighting strikes during a sleet / snow storm - but to answer you question - lighting usually occurs in strong thunderstorms where the air is full of energy - like were a warm front meets a cold front - in the winter storms are not as active as they are in the spring time because the storm is usually associated with cold air and theres not a warm from to make energy with it. in the spring the atmosphere is in great turmoil - the air is heating up but there can still be cold fronts that come thru thats why they are frequent in the spring. 3 weeks ago in oklahoma we had a 70 degree day on a thurs and by friday at noon the temp was 20 degrees and we recieved 4 inches of ice and snow along with some lighting

Answer 4

There are usually three forms of thundersnow:

A normal thunderstorm on the leading edge of a cold front or warm front that either forms in a winter environment or one which runs into cool air and maintains the precipitation as snow.
A heavy synoptic snowstorm in the comma head of an extratropical cyclone that sustains strong vertical mixing which allows for favorable conditions for lightning and thunder to occur.
A lake effect or ocean effect thunderstorm which is produced by cold air passing over relatively warm water, this effect commonly produces snow squalls over the Great Lakes.

One unique aspect of thundersnow is that the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder. The thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many miles away, while the thunder from thundersnow can usually only be heard within a two to three kilometer radius from the lightning. In the United States, March is their peak month of formation, and on average, only three events are reported per year.

Thundersnow is a particularly rare meteorological phenomenon that includes the typical behavior of a thunderstorm, but with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain. It commonly falls in regions of strong upward motion within the cold sector of extratropical cyclones between autumn and spring when surface temperatures are most likely to be near or below freezing.

Answer 5

Actually, htere can be lightning in snow storms. You must need every bit of instability to come together though for lightning to occur.

Answer 6

There can be lightning in heavy snow storms, but it is not typical. I think it doesn't happen often because cold air cannot hold as much electrical energy as warm air.

Answer 7

While uncommon, there are such things as Thunder Snow Storms. I am 31 and I have seen 1 in my life time.

Answer 8

There is. You just need a lot of upward motion for this, like in thunderstorms with rain. When it's cold enough to snow at the surface, you usually don't have enough instability, so it usually doesn't occur. Most snow events are in shallow clouds.

Answer 9

There should be. Please do not question me the way it ought to take position yet I have considered a pair cases the position there has been thunder/lightning at the same time as it grow to be snowing. I bear in mind that that is so uncommon that the weatherman grow to be commenting that it grow to be something he knew ought to take position from studying meteorology yet had not in any respect considered before then.

Answer 10

Ahhh, but there can be. In fact we had some in missouri this winter. It's just unusual.