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Happy to get more thunder yesterday. Almost 4 hours of rolling thunder in the back country. Interesting to see the combination of snow clouds and thunderclouds at the same time, also several funnel clouds. Yesterday was a sky watchers dream and there is already some thunder in the hills again, along with fresh snow.
Happy that the local ski area has received 2.5m of snow in the last week. With a maximum of -8C/19F and no wind, it's going to be a great first day. I'm out the door as soon as my coffee is ready.
Hardly unusual especially when you consider there is such a thing as thundersnow (a thunderstorm producing snow at ground level instead of rain).
In fact, all thunderstorms, even ones in the tropics, are mostly made of "snow" at higher levels.
I didn't phrase that very well. What I really meant was the the scale of it was unusual (and amazing). Snow and thunder aren't that uncommon around here. The last week has seen those conditions most days, and most winters would see 2 or 3 days like that. I've been in plenty of it over the years and am familiar with what those conditions look like from a distance.
This was different though. Big cumulonimbus clouds way more than 10 000 ft above the mountains, almost constant rolling thunder for 3 to 4 hours, with a lot of visible lightning. The mountains were reported to have picked up close to a metre of snow during that day, and yet we were in the sun with pleasant temps (about 14C ). It looked totally like a summer thunder storm except for the heavy snow. It was quite unreal. There were also small tornadoes not too far away, as well as other parts of NZ. It was a crazy day for weather.
I've seen a lot of weather in those mountains, but that was the most impressive. It might not be unusual in England, but it was certainly unusual for here.
I've never seen thundersnow either. I've only ever seen one thunderstorm in winter, and that this year which came out of nowhere - when I got out of an underground station on a typically grey, drizzly winter day and there was thunder and torrential rain I looked around at first thinking it wasn't real!
Very, very and very happy seeing the return of lovely mostly cloudy and showery S-SE conditions after being battered by horribly sunny, dry and icy-cold windy sou'westers over the last two weeks.
Got home from city around 4pm to heavy slow-moving showers . Over 10mm has fallen so far & the next two weeks looks quite primed for further mostly cloudy/showery conditions.
A 13C day (like today) in a S-SE flow is far more preferable to that of a SWer .
Two days ago it was fully overcast (very nice having a break from the boring sunny skies), the grey skies came as a bit of a shock - pleasantly that is - & the maximum was just 12C .
I've seen a lot of weather in those mountains, but that was the most impressive. It might not be unusual in England, but it was certainly unusual for here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ben86
I've never seen thundersnow either. I've only ever seen one thunderstorm in winter, and that this year which came out of nowhere - when I got out of an underground station on a typically grey, drizzly winter day and there was thunder and torrential rain I looked around at first thinking it wasn't real!
Good old thundersnow is common in England in east coast areas during a very sharp north-easterly arctic incursion such as the one in late November 2010, and ones in February 2009, also March 2007. It apparently happened in Buxton back in February 2008 but I was in Lincoln then. However, I saw it in Lincoln in March 2007, when it came quite far inland.
It is an odd experience I must admit to see what looks like a heavy winter blizzard with flickers of lightning and rolling thunder as when I saw it in '07. I wish I could see that again this winter actually.
Playing football on the roof at lunchtime just now I accidentally kicked the ball over the bars into the traffic on the main road six floors below...and got away with it
Playing football on the roof at lunchtime just now I accidentally kicked the ball over the bars into the traffic on the main road six floors below...and got away with it
You norty boy.
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seeing the return of lovely mostly cloudy and showery S-SE conditions after being battered by horribly sunny, dry and icy-cold windy sou'westers over the last two weeks. 
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