Snowstorm brings dense wet mess along with ‘thundersnow’ spectacle

Some Hamilton area residents might be fed up with wild winter storms. Others, however were fascinated by the thundersnow" phenomenon seen in Friday night's storm.

That lightning show accompanying the messy mix of precipitation was a spectacle for late-night shovellers and storm watchers alike.

It is certainly rare in winter, associated with snowfall," said Environment Canada meteorologist Haizhen Sun, but lightning during snowstorms is not that rare," occurring once or twice a year, she added.

The phenomenon happens in unstable and dynamic storm systems, Sun said, and depends on where the system originates.

Lightning occurs more likely in the summer when updraft and downdraft conditions - where there is a cool air mass at high altitude and a warm moist air mass close to the ground - are more common, according to the national weather agency.

In this case, mild temperatures near Lake Ontario meant a dramatic storm and also heavy wet snow, rain and ice pellets, Sun said.

Environment Canada's local weather station measured only 15 centimetres of snowfall, Sun said. That's at the low end of the forecasted total and much less than the 30 centimetres reported in parts of Ontario north and east of Lake Ontario.

Hamilton is continuing to dig out Saturday, with the city reporting plows on Class 1 and 2 roads and cycling lanes" in the morning.

However, with temperatures spiking above zero for the rest of the weekend, to a high of 3 C Saturday and 6 C Sunday, and a quiet" forecast with a partially sunny outlook, Sun says, the weather will help melt that pesky snow away.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com