Thundersnow more common in NYC?

January 27, 2011 9:36 PM

Is "thundersnow" more common in New York City, specifically Queens and Brooklyn?

So the reports are in, thundersnow is the big "it word" of this last storm. However, during the first blizzard back in December, and then during this current storm I have been witness to thundersnow. I seem to remember seeing/hearing it during last year's post-Thanksgiving storm as well.

In my entire life, I have only ever witnessed thundersnow 5, maybe 6 times.

The question being: due to the updrafts over Manhattan, is it more common to have thundersnow in the eastern Boroughs?

I live in Astoria (and have experienced all of the thundersnow here), but other Queens and Brooklyn members, please share your experience.

posted by aloiv2 to Science & Nature (12 answers total)

Straight from the wikipedia:

One unique aspect of thundersnow is that the snowfall acts as an acoustic suppressor of the thunder. The thunder from a typical thunderstorm can be heard many miles away, while the thunder from thundersnow can usually only be heard within a two to three mile radius from the lightning. In the United States, March is their peak month of formation, and on average, only 6.3 events are reported per year.

Thundersnow, while rare anywhere, is more common with lake effect snow in the Great Lakes area of the United States and Canada, the midwestern U.S., and the Great Salt Lake. Thundersnow also occurs in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sometimes several times per winter season. The British Isles and other parts of northwestern Europe occasionally report thunder and lightning during sleet or (usually wet) snow showers during winter and spring. It has also been reported around Kanazawa and the Sea of Japan, and even around Mount Everest during expeditions. When such storms happen at ski areas, these mountains are often evacuated for safety.

I grew up in the lake effect area off of Lake Michigan, it happened about once a winter with the really nasty lake effect snow.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 9:50 PM on January 27, 2011

I suspect what you've experienced this year is an exception in terms of the number of significant storms you guys have had, thus more often than usual (knock on wood, glad it wasn't michigan, sorry for you guys, but better you than us!). I've heard it here (SE Michigan), but typically only once or twice a year... always a strange thing.
posted by HuronBob at 10:01 PM on January 27, 2011

It really feels like New York is having a very "lake effect" winter, so it doesn't surprise me that this is more common there.

Don't know if this is an actual answer to your question, though.

More of an answer: I've lived in NYC since 2000 and have seen thundersnow only a couple of times. It's by no means common here. Then again, nothing about this winter is "common".
posted by Sara C. at 10:22 PM on January 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

In 37 years in Ontario and Quebec -- including living through the Ice Storm just outside the black triangle in QC -- I've never seen thundersnow. That includes a stint of four years in Toronto and a decade not far from Oshawa, both on or close to Lake Ontario.
posted by Shepherd at 10:59 PM on January 27, 2011

I saw it a few times while growing up in Michigan...it didn't see it every year, but enough times for me to consider it an occasional wintertime phenomena. I agree with Sara C., New York is having a Lake Effect winter, so the thunder will likely come with it.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 11:25 PM on January 27, 2011

I am confused by your question.... More common than in Manhattan? Or more common then elsewhere on the east coast? I've seen/heard it just as often as you, and I live in NJ.
posted by amro at 1:10 AM on January 28, 2011

I live in midtown east, and the first time I heard thunder and saw lightning during snow in my life was the storm that hit at Christmas, and then again a couple days ago. So twice in my life, in only a couple months!
posted by Grither at 4:31 AM on January 28, 2011

I doubt this has anything to do with "updrafts" or "lake effect" storms. I've lived most of my life in Maryland, outside the lake effect snow area, and thunder/snow storms are somewhat common in here. It probably happens once or twice a winter here; though not at all in some years and a few more times in others.

In fact, I remember Lewis Black had a routine talking about how crazy thundersnow is ("they didn't have that kind of weather in the Bible!") and that it must be a sign of the end of the world. I never really got what the big deal was, since I had seen it enough. Hail is much weirder to me, since we don't get a lot of it in Baltimore.
posted by spaltavian at 4:52 AM on January 28, 2011

Well, I'm on the other side of NYC in Central New Jersey and I heard the thundersnow earlier this week and (I believe) in November as well. At least a couple times this winter. I think we've just had a weird winter, there's nothing special about the buildings and updraft.
posted by parkerjackson at 4:54 AM on January 28, 2011

I would guess not. Thundersnow is not common, but it is a known phenomenon in the midwest. Maybe once a year or so. I actually lost a tree to a lightning strike in a snowstorm. It seems like no one had ever heard of it out there.
posted by sanka at 6:37 AM on January 28, 2011

ITs basically just thunderstorms moving over colder areas. Im on long island and I am surprised we dont get it more. We get a lot of regular thunderstorms in the summer.

We are getting it because all the southern storms have been swinging up to the north east when they normally would not be.
posted by majortom1981 at 6:52 AM on January 28, 2011

The 1991 ice storm that hit Rochester, NY and surrounding areas was accompanied by thundersnow. There was some lightning as well. I know because I was out in it, unfortunately. There have been a couple of instances since then as well. We're in a lake effect snow region but only when the wind is from the north or northwest.
posted by tommasz at 9:58 AM on January 28, 2011