Update 2/16/2015: It’s not everyday we update a post that’s 20 days old. But Jim Cantore, while covering Winter Storm Neptune’s tour de force through Boston, experienced thundersnow. And it was predictably perfect.

Thank you for you, Jim Cantore.

 

There’s a blizzard warning in effect for Boston from 7 p.m. Monday night to 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Snow accumulations of 20 to 30 inches are possible. There’s potential for whiteout conditions with near-zero visibility at times with wind gusts as high as 65 to 75 mph. Hazardous, possibly life-threatening travel conditions are expected.

Another potential hazard: thundersnow. Yes, thundersnow. All you really need to know about this weather phenomenon is that it does in fact exist – and no one is more fascinated by it than the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore.

 

OH, look! Cantore’s here, in Boston, on the Common. Legend.

 

Anyway, the Weather Channel does an impressively lengthy deep-dive into the cause of thundersnow, but for our purposes, here’s a brief explainer: Thundersnow, unlike traditional thunder and lightning, occurs in a layer of clouds only about 20,000 feet above the Earth’s surface, when below-freezing ground-level temperatures get sucked up into an unstable, low layer of cloud coverage. Rather than developing – like thunder and lightning commonly does during the summer – at 40,000 feet above the Earth’s surface, thundersnow is produced in clouds much closer to the earth’s surface.

Now, since Cantore’s in town and thundersnow may be a brewin’ in the skies. Here’s a few videos of thundersnow scaring the crap out of Jimmy C.

What you need to know about this weather phenomenon and some videos of Jim Cantore loving it.
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