Re: Thunder snow

Posted by News Junkie on January 24, 2003

In Reply to: Re: Thunder snow posted by ESC on January 17, 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.
: : : http://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.

New developments on the "Dry Ice" disaster see the BBC link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2691229.stm