Why doesn't it lightning and thunder during a snow storm?

Answer 1

Thundersnow happens when enough rising air causes a reaction. In other words extreme vertical motion (as in a summer thunderstorm in a cumulonimbus cloud) that will cause thunder and lighting. Usually when that occurs you will have very heavy snow upwards of 2-3in per hour. However this does not occur every time it snows only in very strong snow storms and blizzards with a deepening low pressure system. Lighting can, though rarely, in the winter strike the ground so it is possible to get struck in the winter. Living in near Chicago I have experienced this several times before.

Answer 2

Thunder During Snowstorm

Answer 3

Believe it or not, sometimes it does lightning during a snow storm. I know that when I lived in Milwaukee it happened during a snow storm and it was one of the worst snow storms Milwaukee ever had. We got 4 feet of snow dumped on us during that storm. Why it does not always happen I am not sure. Maybe someone else out there has an answer for that.

Answer 4

I've encountered lightning with snow only once in my life, back in London a year or so ago. My car had a full glass roof and it was like looking up into a cross between a fog machine and a strobe light (it was at night, so it really was bright lightning).
VERY eerie and surreal, especially seeing as I remember no thunder at all.

Answer 5

Why doesn't it lightning and thunder during a snow storm?
infact it can happen here are two question that are Frequently asked and answerd by the National Weather Service
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/lightning/ltg_faq.shtml

What is thundersnow?

Although thunderstorms are less common in the winter, sometimes lightning can occur within snowstorms. Called thundersnow, relatively strong instability and abundant moisture may be found above the surface, such as above a warm front, rather than at the surface where it may be below freezing. Thundersnow is sometimes observed downstream of the Great Salt Lake and the Great Lakes during lake-effect snowstorms, too.


Does lightning happen during the winter?

Lightning occurs less frequently in the winter because there is not as much instability and moisture in the atmosphere as there is in the summer. These two ingredients work together to make convective storms that can produce lightning. Without instability and moisture, strong thunderstorms are unlikely.

During the winter, the land surface is cooler because there is not as much heating by the sun to warm it up. Without warm surface temperatures, the near-surface air wouldn't rise in the atmosphere very far. Thus, the kinds of deep (8-15 km deep) thunderstorms that develop in the summertime wouldn't develop.

Warm air holds more water vapor. And, when water vapor condenses into liquid water cloud drops, latent heat is released which fuels the thunderstorm. So, warm, moist air near the surface (and the proper conditions aloft to give you lots of instability) can result in deep convection, which may produce lightning discharges.

Clouds become electrified when strong updrafts (fueled by the instability and moisture) bring supercooled liquid water drops and ice crystals at temperatures less than freezing (0 deg C) together. In this environment, interactions between the ice crystals and supercooled water droplets produce electric charges. The exact mechanisms by which this charging happens remain unknown. The electrical charges build up until they are strong enough to overcome the resistance of the surrounding air. The breakdown of the electric fields produced by these charges is the lightning bolt.

Answer 6

It has happened, Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel was out in one several years ago and was caught on camera.

Answer 7

honestly, Its no longer very elementary to be certain lightning or hear thunder for the time of a snow hurricane yet whilst there is sufficient convective activity, the prospect might desire to exist for "thundersnow"

Answer 8

I've seen "thundersnow" before.... it usually doesn't cause the cold temperatures inhibit the electrical charges from building up, but it's possible. Kinda freaks you out seeing it though cuz they don't even talk about weather like that in The Bible.

Answer 9

I've seen it twice in my life in Northern Arizona. I heard thunder too. It was creepy!