Last night we had our first major snowstorm of the season – in fact, where I live there was a Blizzard Warning starting last night that ran through 9AM today! It didn’t live up to the 2011 Groundhog Day Blizzard here, but last night was a little nerve racking. In addition to a lot of wind, I heard a couple really loud cracks of thunder!
Thundersnow is a real thing – although relatively rare. It is most common in the Great Lakes region of the US so we have that going for us Midwesterners! Thundersnow is really just a good old thunderstorm that produces snow rather than rain – in my case last night, the storm system was snow over the north and western suburbs of Chicago, but across the state line in Indiana, it was all rain. So what caused the thunder? Just like with a summer storm, there was a lot of movement in the atmosphere with pressure and temperature changes. I didn’t see lightning, but that is possible with thundersnow as well.
Want to know more about thundersnow? Check out these links:
I’m guessing we had about 6″ based on what I can see on my deck – but there was so much wind it’s hard to tell. But the roads are a mess and I’m happy to be working at home today!
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