Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The SPC's thunderstorm forecast overlaps with some of the Winter Storm Warning areas - Thundersnow possible

UPDATE: I can 100% confirm that Huron County saw a thunderstorm last night (around 11:30PM Tuesday 02/02/16). I sat for five minutes attempting to get video after hearing thunder and seeing lightning three times, but unfortunately nature did not cooperate with me after I turned the camera on. =(

This is a very unique forecast that doesn't happen very often. The amount of potential energy in the atmosphere with this storm system is high, despite the fact that temperatures aren't. The result is that we could see thunderstorms intermingled with precipitation even into the frozen areas:


This could mean localized snowfall totals in some northern areas could be significantly higher. A thunderstorm is a thunderstorm regardless of precipitation type, and even an average thunderstorm drops much more precipitation than what falls in a stratiform low. This convective phenomenon is what's responsible for the oft-high intensity of lake effect snow. Think of it as a regular winter storm + lake-effect-style enhanced bands.

With lightning.

Yee-ha.

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