Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. A short but heavy fall of snow with about
3 or 4 bouts of thunder and lightening around 9.30am. I didn't realise there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

On Dec 22, 9:50*am, "news.virginmedia.com"
wrote:
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. snipI didn't realise there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

Phil.

Not that unusual, although over the past few years it's probably rarer
than it was.

In Co. Durham in the 60s - 80s, we used to get lightning in snow
showers fairly often, when a cold deep north-easterly flow set-in.
Convection over the warmer sea would produce towering Cu which would
march in from the coast giving blinding showers of dry snow and
spindrift off the roofs and along the roads. If the flow was
northerly, then N Yorks would get it and we would wait [hope] for an
easterly component to set-in so we could share in the fun. IIRC, the
lightning was always a bright violet-blue - presumably owing to the
conditions that produced it (?)

- Tom.

"Tom Bennett" wrote in message
...
On Dec 22, 9:50 am, "news.virginmedia.com"
wrote:
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. snipI didn't realise there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

Phil.

Not that unusual, although over the past few years it's probably rarer
than it was.

In Co. Durham in the 60s - 80s, we used to get lightning in snow
showers fairly often, when a cold deep north-easterly flow set-in.
Convection over the warmer sea would produce towering Cu which would
march in from the coast giving blinding showers of dry snow and
spindrift off the roofs and along the roads. If the flow was
northerly, then N Yorks would get it and we would wait [hope] for an
easterly component to set-in so we could share in the fun. IIRC, the
lightning was always a bright violet-blue - presumably owing to the
conditions that produced it (?)

- Tom.

Ah yes Tom I remember that type of event. I lived on the Durham coast in the
1950's and the northerlies/north-easterlies would produce heavy snow showers
although the effect was limited to the coastal zone. On the other hand the
summers were on the cool side.

--
George in Epping, West Essex (107m asl)
www.eppingweather.co.uk
www.winter1947.co.uk
COL 36055

Tom Bennett wrote:

On Dec 22, 9:50 am, "news.virginmedia.com"
wrote:
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. snipI didn't realise there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

Phil.

Not that unusual, although over the past few years it's probably rarer
than it was.

Depends where you are I suppose. My father told me about it but I didn't
experience it until a few years ago - I'm 65. I think I've seen more
tornadoes and funnel clouds than I've experienced thundersnow.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."

On 22 Dec, 10:44, "George Booth" wrote:
"Tom Bennett" wrote in message


Hi, Tom and George,
Ah, nostalgia for the homeland!!
In reality, t's still a cold place where the snow outstays its
welcome.
I have to admit it looks OK for the first few days, then it's hard
work and a damned nuisance.
Football's doing OK and cricket's even better, though.
Ken
Copley

Tom Bennett wrote:

On Dec 22, 9:50*am, "news.virginmedia.com"
wrote:
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. snipI didn't realise there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

Phil.

Not that unusual, although over the past few years it's probably rarer
than it was.

In Co. Durham in the 60s - 80s, we used to get lightning in snow
showers fairly often, when a cold deep north-easterly flow set-in.
Convection over the warmer sea would produce towering Cu which would
march in from the coast giving blinding showers of dry snow and
spindrift off the roofs and along the roads. If the flow was
northerly, then N Yorks would get it and we would wait [hope] for an
easterly component to set-in so we could share in the fun. IIRC, the
lightning was always a bright violet-blue - presumably owing to the
conditions that produced it (?)

- Tom.

Quite common on the west and north coasts of Scotland. Dave Wheeler on Fair
Isle is 'expert' on this. West Scotland has more days with thunder in winter
than in summer.

Norman

news.virginmedia.com wrote:
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. A short but heavy fall of snow with
about 3 or 4 bouts of thunder and lightening around 9.30am. I didn't
realise there was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

I've experienced it once in Jan 2004. When I was at a conference at
Molineux football ground. I was amazed to see a blizzard but also
thunder and lightning.

Joe Egginton
Wolverhampton
175m asl

"news.virginmedia.com" wrote in message
...
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. A short but heavy fall of snow with
about
3 or 4 bouts of thunder and lightening around 9.30am. I didn't realise
there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

Thunder is not that rare with snow. A few years ago, on the 26th Jan 2004,
the local church spire of St Pauls on the Reading Road in Wokingham, 700m
from my house, was struck by lightning during a snowstorm, setting it on
fire and doing a huge amount of damage as the belfry was ablaze and the
bells fell nearly 100ft to the floor of the church. As Norman says on
another thread, the maritime areas in the north have more thunder in the
winter than the summer. I spent over a year in Shetland in the early 1980's,
including 2 winters. During both winters, and over Christmas on one,
lightning took out the TV transmitter near Lerwick.

--
Bernard Burton
Wokingham, Berkshire, UK.

Weather satellite images at:
www.woksat.info/wwp.html

On Dec 22, 10:51*am, Ken Cook wrote:
On 22 Dec, 10:44, "George Booth" wrote:

"Tom Bennett" wrote in message

Hi, Tom and George,
Ah, nostalgia for the homeland!!
In reality, t's still a cold place where the snow outstays its
welcome.
I have to admit it looks OK for the first few days, then it's hard
work and a damned nuisance.
Football's doing OK and cricket's even better, though.
Ken
Copley

Thanks for those blasts from the past, Ken and George.

The earliest I recall snow at home (Annfield Plain, Co. Durham, 250m
asl) was 22nd September (must have been in the late 60s) and the
latest was 2nd June 1974 - when, admittedly, other places had snow.
In most years, we'd get some most months through Nov-April, with the
odd fall in October or May. Late falls could be the heaviest. We
had a cracking one in late March (1978, IIRC, but I might be wrong in
the year) with drifts over 2.5m, and I've still got some photos of
that one. 1981/2 produced numbing cold (I recorded -18C in the
garden) in early Dec and again in early Jan, but we weren't alone in
that, either.

In general and even allowing for the milder seasons recently, I'm
afraid the NE is still too cold and windy for my aging bones and the
winters last far too long. The wind still seems to blow and blow;
summer leaves far too early and winter still stays late. I'm pleased
to feel the onset of warmer days down here (sometimes as early as late
February) and be in the garden in a warm autumnal snap in late
October.


- Tom

Blackmore.
SW. Essex.

On 22 Dec, 10:53, "Norman" wrote:
Tom Bennett wrote:
On Dec 22, 9:50 am, "news.virginmedia.com"
wrote:
Just had thundersnow in Liverpool. snipI didn't realise there
was such a thing! I believe it's a relatively rare occurence.
Phil

Phil.

Not that unusual, although over the past few years it's probably rarer
than it was.

In Co. Durham in the 60s - 80s, we used to get lightning in snow
showers fairly often, when a cold deep north-easterly flow set-in.
Convection over the warmer sea would produce towering Cu which would
march in from the coast giving blinding showers of dry snow and
spindrift off the roofs and along the roads. *If the flow was
northerly, then N Yorks would get it and we would wait [hope] for an
easterly component to set-in so we could share in the fun. * IIRC, the
lightning was always a bright violet-blue - presumably owing to the
conditions that produced it (?)

- *Tom.

Quite common on the west and north coasts of Scotland. Dave Wheeler on Fair
Isle is 'expert' on this. West Scotland has more days with thunder in winter
than in summer.

Norman- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Same in Penzance. November is our most 'thundery month' largely due to
heavy showers in NW.

The most impressive individual storms have been in August though.

Graham
Penzance