Thundersnow is exactly what the name suggests – a snowy thunderstorm. But the winter version of a thunderstorm is far less frequent than the spring and summer thunderstorms most people are used to.

NOAA says the “ingredients” for thundersnow are similar to a thunderstorm: moisture, instability, and a lifting mechanism. In the case of thundersnow, the phenomenon occurs when there is ...

Thundersnow can develop in three ways. Sometimes thundersnow forms like a typical thunderstorm along a powerful arctic cold front. Warm air bubbles and rises in the atmosphere, creating a thunderstorm ...

Experts say that thundersnow—a phenomenon when thunder and lightning occur during a snowstorm—tends to bring heavier accumulations. Photograph by David Degner, The Washington Post/Getty Images.

Thundersnow was reported with heavy snow that blanketed Buffalo, N.Y., in November, for example.Residents reported lightning flashes in the sky as snow piled up on the ground. If it’s uncommon ...

For fans of snowstorms, thundersnow is the holy grail of winter weather phenomena. And Thursday's blizzard that struck areas from Philadelphia to southern Maine has featured this relatively rare ...

Interestingly, cloud-to-ground thundersnow events in nor’easters are oftentimes man-made. That’s because the positive charge in lower regions of the snow cloud is broad and diffuse, often too ...

As many in the region will have noticed, the storms generating the thundersnow were packed full of snow—Copenhagen saw 58.8 inches of snowfall in 24 hours, according to AccuWeather.