Thunder during a snow storm???

We Just had a major snow storm in MTL Quebec this Saturday.
My girlfriend and I were watching people outside slipping and sliding all over the place and laughing, when all of a sudden there was this awsome thunder crash and a lightning bolt. Ive never seen anything like this before and was wondering if this is normal. Could this be because of global warming? As a kid Ive always wondered why there was never any thunder or lightning during snow storms, but I guess there is

i don't have a definite answer. still i grew up in minnesota, where i lived the first 21 years of my life. i have NO memory of ever seeing thunder or lightning in the winter during snow storms and blizzards. not a single one. i do remember being told by my father when i was really young that it never happened. his knowledge of the weather is like mine, primarily informed through experience.

i think it is an intriguing question, i think i will have to look around for an answer.

thanks for posting

i love the internet.

"The answer to the question of whether or not there can be thunder and lightning during a snowstorm is this. It is possible but it is quite rare. Here's why."

link

link

link

EDIT: C.King the three comments provided make your situation up there sound like the perfect type for 'snow thunder'

[edit on 17-12-2007 by Animal]

Yup it happens:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks for the info Animal, thats very interesting. So I guess its really rare but it does happen.

Man I should always look on ATS to see if someone posted about the same topic Looks like I was beat to it by another curious Montrealer

I have experienced this twice, once in the blizzard of 1982 St Louis Mo, and last Saturday night, I never did see the lightening, but heard thunder several times, and it was snowing its fool head off.

I've seen it also. Outside of Denver in a heavy snowstorm in about 1987-88. Thunder and lightning. Close lightning is very bright, due to the white snow reflecting all the light.

I saw it once in a storm we had in the late 70's in the midwest.

respectfully


reluctantpawn

man, you guys are lucky! i want to see snow-thunder! to think i lived for so long in minnesota for NOTHING!

I saw lightening in a very heavy snowstorm in Indiana in about 1989 or 1990. The snowstorm had HUGE flakes (probably the size of quarters or bigger). I saw a bright flash that I first had mistaken for a transformer blowing. After the thunder hit, it was obviously lightening.

It's kind of unnerving the first time you see/hear it, because it's so rare. It's just NOT supposed to lightening during a snowstorm!

I heard it many times growing up in Northern Virginia. You knew it was a good blizzard when you heard the thunder. I never saw the lightning.

that's actually fairly common in new england. i can remember this happening my whole life(not frequently, but once every year, maybe every couple of years)

It`s fairly common in Hokkaido as well - more often than not in the mountains in late fall/early spring. I`ve seen it three or four times this year.

It happened once in the UK where I live too and also thought that is was wiered like something wrong with the weather, you do think what if something is wrong up there.

I was shoveling off a roof in Harrisburg, Pa with my room mate, and we almost got scared off the roof by a nearby lightning strike and accompanying thunderclap. This was during a heavy sustained snow- almost 2 m. of snow already laying. This was early '96, there was a bridge knocked down by this storm. Only time I've ever seen that, mostly you just see snow with the sun shining brightly and consider that some kind of anomoly.

Ed. Timeperiod

[edit on 22/12/07 by cbianchi513]

I live in upstate NY. We see thunder snow once or twice a year. It usually happens in late fall or early spring when there are drastic changes in temperature (70 degrees F to 20 degrees F in 24 hours) and significant moisture in the air.

There is an earlier current thread on this topic.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Closed.