Vancouver sky lit up by really rare "thunder snow" (VIDEO)
If you thought you heard thunder in Vancouver last night, you weren’t imagining it. However, it was not just any ordinary thunderstorm.
According to The Weather Network’s Digital Meteorologist Tyler Hamilton, it was a rare thunder snow.
How rare?
“Thundersnow is so rare, we don’t have a proper icon for it,” he tweeted. “But it made the observation at YVR.”
Thundersnow is so rare, we don’t have a proper icon for it, but it made the observation at YVR… #BCSnow pic.twitter.com/ZVsxAtpNJm
— Tyler Hamilton (@50ShadesofVan) December 18, 2022
An observation report from Vancouver Airport confirmed the weather incident, describing it as a “thunderstorm with light snow.”
Thunder snow mostly occurs in the Great Lakes region, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.
It happens when “cold air blows across the relatively mild water of the Great Lakes, forcing the air upwards rapidly enough that the instability causes lightning and thunder in conjunction with heavy snow.”
One Burnaby resident caught it on video, which shows snow falling as a flash of lightning lights up the scene.
Thunder snow in Burnaby #vancouver #snow #burnaby #canada #theweathernetwork #vancouversnow #bcstorm #bcsnow pic.twitter.com/ISXbKkuM9b
— Vineetx (@NinjaGaara) December 18, 2022
Others took to social media to see if everyone else heard it.
so I DIDNT dream being woken up overnight by thunder https://t.co/FziA6YP58q
— erin (@myliobatis) December 18, 2022
Who else was woken, twice, this morning by thundersnow? #vancouver #burnaby #thunder
— Morten is elsewhere (@mor10) December 18, 2022
One Twitter user said thunder snow could be a cool name for a rock group.
🎶🎸You heard…THUNDERSNOW 🎸🎶 https://t.co/OVBRA0ljgo pic.twitter.com/x99oxFcQzp
— James Gemmill (@jamesgemmill) December 18, 2022
According to Hamilton, the impacted affected areas were mostly in the south coast.
High impact weather day across the South Coast: Cold front depicts the estimated position of the Arctic front this morning, sprinkling in some thundersnow west of UBC. #BCCold #BCSnow pic.twitter.com/BfHG2PgCq8
— Tyler Hamilton (@50ShadesofVan) December 18, 2022