Thundersnow in New Mexico, March 14, 2010

I got my first video today of thunder and lightning associated with a snowstorm. This video shows a cloud-to-ground lightning strike near Caňon, NM, then snow and graupel (snow pellets) along the leading edge of the precipitation near La Ciňega, NM a couple miles away. (These small villages are located about 20 miles southwest of downtown Santa Fe.) These pictures were taken around 3 p.m.; by 10 p.m. Santa Fe had 6 inches of snow, and it was still snowing.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• storm
• thundersnow
• winter weather
• lightning

[momotous]

Santa Fe and snow are two things I don't usually associate with one another. Nice vid.

[johnefarley]

Actually, it snows quite a bit in Santa Fe because of the high altitude, about 7000 feet above sea level. Many people don't know that, though; a few years ago I actually heard about someone that bought a house in Santa Fe without knowing that it snows.

[taoselk]

@johnefarley On March 19th, we were in Santa Fe when it started snowing. lightning and thundering at the same time. I did not know it could do this but it was pretty intense.

[johnefarley]

@taoselk I have video up from that day, too. Just go to my Youtube video page and then go to the March 19 video.

[mydorkie1]

I have seen two "thundersnow" storms in New Mexico, once in Gallup, and again in Los Lunas. I didn't know it was possible to have thunder, lightning, and snow at the same time until I experienced it.

[pytlfamly]

Good job - I love thundersnow!