Can you have thunderstorms in the winter

If that air gets warmer with height or is forced upwards by some atmospheric feature, then convection can occur. The result was thunderstorms!

So, an elevated thunderstorm is one whose base is well above the ground. Another way elevated convection can occur is when lifting and instability begin at the ground, but the air there is very dry.

So, if the air gets a big enough push upward, it will become saturated and unstable. This can produce convective clouds and thunderstorms that have bases well above the surface, even though the lifting started at the surface. As they did yesterday, elevated thunderstorms can produce hail, in addition to very heavy downpours and flooding.

They can also create strong downdrafts of air that come rushing toward the ground. Video link. Close X. Click to scroll back to top of the page Back to top. Posted January 29, pm. Smaller font Descrease article font size - A. Share this item on Facebook facebook Share this item via WhatsApp whatsapp Share this item on Twitter twitter Send this page to someone via email email Share this item on Pinterest pinterest Share this item on LinkedIn linkedin Share this item on Reddit reddit Copy article link Copy link.

Story continues below advertisement. Does thunder in the winter mean snow is coming? There's an old saying that states, "thunder in the winter brings snow in seven days.

Is it normal to have thunderstorms in winter? How rare is a thundersnow? Thundersnows are rare enough that The Royal Meteorological Society found that they only account for 0. What is ice thunder? Ice thunder is another name for freezing rain or sleet that falls during a thunderstorm.

December Wear pajamas inside out. Cite This! Try Our Crossword Puzzle! The sound waves from thunder will hit the bottom of the warm air layer and will bounce back to the ground, which causes the sound of thunder to last much longer. Aside from elevated thunderstorms, there can also be "cold thunderstorms" when it's just very, very cold above the surface. Thunderstorms require unstable air to form, and there is a critical point where the rate of cooling as you go up through the atmosphere is great enough to create an unstable atmosphere.

This kind of situation is most common in early winter over large bodies of water, such as the Great Lakes. When the lakes are not frozen and very cold air moves in from Canada, there is enough of a difference between the water temperature and the very cold air above it to create an unstable atmosphere. Whether it's raining or snowing, these are the two ways to get lightning and thunder when it's cold outside. Now Hourly 10 Day.