Thunder snow
Posted by ESC on January 17, 2003
In Reply to: Thunder snow posted by News Junkie on January 16, 2003
: : They are predicting "thunder snow" for central Kentucky. I'd never heard of that. You? A friend found this online:
: : "Lightning, Thunder and SNOW
: : What is Thunder Snow? Last time I explained how frigid
air flowing over the unfrozen waters of Lake Michigan can create lake effect snow
showers. When it comes to lightning and thunder, you probably think of spring
and summer thunderstorms. You're not likely to envision lightning during a snowstorm
but it can happen, although not very often. When it does, it's often in and around
the Great Lakes. To get things started you need convection, which is the up and
down movement of air. In every thunderstorm negative and positive charges need
to be separated to build an electrical field that's strong enough to create lightning.
If the temperature contrast between the cold air and the warm water of the lake
is large enough, you get lake effect snow. The more violent the convection is,
the greater the likelihood of lightning and thunder while it's snowing. While
we have no hard scientific evidence there may be, at the very least, a link between
thunder snow and extremely high snowfall accumulations. I personally lived through
one such thunder snowstorm a few years ago and had almost FIVE FEET of snow when
it was all over. If you wish to know more about thunder snow, click on the link
below.
: : www.usatoday.com/
weather/wlakeeff.htm "
:
: A radio
station in Birmingham England is being sued for the damage that was caused to
individuals who took part in a contest arranged by the station where the winner
was the person who sat for the longest period, unprotected, on a block of dry
ice. Now dry ice is solid CO2 and exists at -78 degrees centigrade. Most of the
contestants were hospitalised with severely damaged flesh on the buttocks and
upper thighs - the prize was tickets to some pop event. This proves that dry ice
is probably more dangerous than thunder snow even though it does not clutter up
the landscape with a great sheet of whiteness and should only come in contact
with buttocks securely double wrapped in thermal underwear.
Good lord. And I thought media in the U.S. was bad. This morning there was a news segment on making oatmeal for breakfast. Then the crew went to a sub shop and watch the employees make sandwiches. Pretty harmless compared with getting someone to sit on dry ice.
- Thunder snow News Junkie 01/24/03