Snow Or Thunderstorms? Which Better?

[Carl46Wrexham]

Snow for me. I'm starting to forget what a thunderstorm is actually like to experience, so rare a phenomenon they are these days.

[Milhouse]

Thunderstorms for me, but preferably after a hot and humid day rather than a cool and cloudy one.

[IanR]

Thunderstorms by a large margin, there is nothing more exciting than seeing a cumolonimbus coming in from a distance and hearing the growls, and then the natures firwork display,specially at dusk, wish I lived in florida

I loved snow as a kid but find it a pain in the ass now, and it looks ugly when it inevitabably goes grey and slushy and stays around like an unwelocme presence

I find a good thunderstorm uplifting

Snow can get depressing for me , once you have seen white you want colour back

[AderynCoch]

Snow, assuming it's heavy and hangs around.

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Yeah, thats the main advantage of snow, Dec 2010 style, Even Feb 4th lots of snow still around a week after, where as my storm on May 9th, after it, nothing

[Aaron]

Thunderstorms by a large margin, there is nothing more exciting than seeing a cumolonimbus coming in from a distance and hearing the growls, and then the natures firwork display,specially at dusk, wish I lived in florida

I loved snow as a kid but find it a pain in the ass now, and it looks ugly when it inevitabably goes grey and slushy and stays around like an unwelocme presence

I find a good thunderstorm uplifting

Snow can get depressing for me , once you have seen white you want colour back

Would you prefer muddy landscapes and constant drizzle then? At least when it snows everything looks pure and pristine.

[AderynCoch]

It might be better to compare snowy spells with thundery spells. Although I prefer snow overall, without question I'd take a repeat of the hot, humid thundery spell of early August 2004 over a five-minute flurry where the snow melts on impact.

An extended period of heavy, lying snow is much better a bit of wet snow which doesn't stick. A massive thunderstorm with frequent lightning during a summer heatwave is much better than the odd rumble of thunder in January.

[damianslaw]

Snow for me. Love the stuff, the anticipation is the best bit, watching the dark skies unfold and the first snowflakes fall.

I do love thunderstorms though, the anticipation is very exciting and unlike snow they are much more unpredictable, springing up out of nowhere. In this part of the country, dark skies to the south and a freshening breeze in very warm humid air is usually a good sign of at least a heavy downpour on the cards, thunderstorms also produce intense hail which can look like snow in the depths of summer.

The best combo is perhaps thundersnow. We saw thundersnow on the evening of the 21st Dec 2009, superb lightning display and powerful thunderclaps with intense snow showers off Morecambe Bay thanks to the deep convection, the storm happened in the late evening and we had 7 inches already on the ground - quite a rare event.

Recent summers have been poor for thunderstorms.

[Jon Somerset]

What Aaron said. I utterly love thunderstorms.

[AderynCoch]

The best combo is perhaps thundersnow. We saw thundersnow on the evening of the 21st Dec 2009, superb lightning display and powerful thunderclaps with intense snow showers

We had the same here the following morning - my very first thundersnow event. I had always imagined thundersnow to be pretty tame (the odd rumble of thunder) but this was a proper thunderstorm: big pink flashes followed by big booming thunderclaps. Superb.

That said, I prefer thundersnow for its pure novelty value. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to going outside in thunderstorms - I love going out in snow, but not when there's lightning! I love thunderstorms when I'm indoors and hate them when I'm outdoors.

[IanR]

Would you prefer muddy landscapes and constant drizzle then? At least when it snows everything looks pure and pristine.

I would rather see green landcape than snow,if it happens to be waterlogged then yes, still prefer it. That may be a difficult opinion to accept from snow lovers,but I find it hard to accept how some would like it to be cold and raw all year.

[MP-R]

I think for me it depends on what has been lacking the most in the preceding few years. Between 2002 and 2008 there was no shortage of thunderstorms in Bristol but snow was quite a rarity (the settling variety anyway). But since 2008 thunderstorms have decreased markedly and instead snow has become a lot more regular and reliable, and as such, it's thunderstorms I find more exciting at the moment.

Having said that, I think snow may just top it anyway. There's just something magical about snow - it can last for a week whereas a thunderstorm may only last 30 minutes. I just love everything covered in white during the winter. I hate seeing lush green grass and bare everything else - it looks horrible and depressing.

[AWD]

Thunderstorms for me! They are a wonder to watch and truely magical! Snow is good but get boring after a while!

I will never get bored of Storms, dont get enough of them...................... literally!

[Thundery wintry showers]

Some others have picked up on what is probably my main reason for snow edging it overall- the way snowfalls can have a lasting impact whereas thunderstorms come and go.

In eastern England the late autumn/winter setup with north-easterlies blowing over the cold sea is ideal from my perspective- plenty of heavy snow showers and sunny intervals, and chances of thundersnow. The period 24th November-2nd December 2010 in north-east England springs to mind. After mid-March a better bet for thundersnow is a cyclonic northerly/north-westerly type with airmasses originating near the North Pole. But then again, a hot, sunny, thundery summer spell like the 24th July-3rd August 1994 or 18th-27th July 2006 would run it pretty close.

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Good question.

I seem to get more excited in Autumn about snow than I do in Spring about thunderstorms. Having said that, I think I actually enjoy thunderstorms a lot more.

They are far more exciting and unpredictable, especially thunderstorms in the US Midwest which I have been lucky enough to experience. I would far rather see the most extreme storms on earth than the deepest or most extreme snow, so I think that confirms that I like storms best.

I do love snow too though.

[95 Degrees]

In the 90s,early 00s I prefered T-Storms, because I got to exprience more, 2009 onwards it's been snow, I think i prefer snow overall but only just as I love both, but I haven't much of either lately.

Edited May 10, 2012 by BrightInBrighton

[Keraunic]

Definitely thunderstorms. I love them but we always seem to miss them in Norwich. Snow is nice but only when it is 'virgin'. Can't stand it when it goes all slushy and mucky.

[Nick F]

I am going to buck the trend on here and say I prefer thunderstorms. I have been fortunate to be able to chase severe storms in the US and a weather phenomenum which produces baseball size hail, constant lightning, tornadoes, amazing cloud structures, etc definately provides more excitment than snow.

I do love a good heavy snowfall though, but the inconvenience of it when it becomes disruptive, especially as I have to drive 20 miles to work which can take 2 hours in snow, does take the edge off the enjoyment of snow sometimes.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Definitely thunderstorms. I love them but we always seem to miss them in Norwich. Snow is nice but only when it is 'virgin'. Can't stand it when it goes all slushy and mucky.

I think you've just been very unlucky in recent years (I know about it as I was there until June 2011). Norwich is, on average, one of the UK's thunderstorm hotspots with an average of about 16 thunder-days per year, but has gone through a phase since 30 November 2010 where any snow/thunder-related excitement tended to miss Norwich.

A good point re. snow. The main problem arises when the dew point creeps above zero (or we get rain/sleet) followed by a refreeze- this turns the snow to slush and then ice. December 2010 was good for its lack of this in Tyneside, as the month's only significant thaws removed all of the snow cover, and the two snow-covered periods had little in the way of slush or ice. It has always annoyed me when the media talks of "welcome respites" when sunshine, snow showers and a powdery snow cover is replaced by stratus, sleet, a biting SE wind and a slowly-thinning layer of slush and ice. Their argument is that the disruption and inconvenience to business is reduced, whereas mine is that it's far more dangerous to go walking in and unpleasant to be out in generally.

Maybe if I'd recently experienced a summer like 1994 or 1999, and one or two winters with plenty of slush and ice about, I might have voted for thunderstorms.

[Terminal Moraine]

I really can't decide on this. A really severe thunderstorm can only be rivalled, snow wise, by a severe blizzard and both are quite rare events at any one locality, although here heavy snow occurs much more frequently than severe thunderstorms, the last of which was in July 2006.

As the majority of thunder days tend to be from distant showers or storms I'm tempted to go for snow as at least it's falling at your locality but then again there's little to match the drama of really severe storm.

[Snowstorm1]

Snow easy but best event is thundersnow late at night with the sky lit up in pink and looks magical outside and is so bright this is one of the advantages of living near industry however the negative side is that it is slightly warmer which has at many times done my head in!

[I remember Atlantic 252]

Slush and ice are great, one of the slippiest times was 04-09 Dec 2010, less cold air moved in on 4th, then stayed below zero until 9th, then freezing rain on the 9th, slippiest time ever, all great and very unusual

all part of the good of winter (especially pre Xmas rush) where as with summer thunderstorms, just a miserable regular looking wet ground after the storm

Edited May 12, 2012 by Snow? norfolk n chance

[Aaron]

I love all types of severe weather too - snowfall, thunderstorms, gales, torrential rain, hail - you name it, I love it.

Snow is just more common here than thunderstorms, and even though thunderstorms are definitely more exciting.. I still prefer snow.. snow is by far my favourite type of weather and I don't think I would even consider living in a climate that didn't get snow at least once a year - even the south coast of England would be on my 'no' list (Kent is different though)

Edited May 12, 2012 by Aaron

[Evening thunder]

Quite agree with that Weather09, I like pretty much all severe types of weather, thunderstorms, snow, very heavy rain, strong winds, very cold weather in winter or very hot weather in summer (may not want that to last too long though), as I find them pretty interesting/exciting. I'm certainly a fan of both cold/snow and warm/hot and thundery weather.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a more continental climate so we got those more, and we hadn't recently seemed to usually be the mildest place in the world at our latitude in winter, and the coolest in summer!

[Aaron]

I read somewhere the average annual temperature at London's latitude is 4 degrees celsius! Definitely mild in winter but in summer we're not that cool, away from coastlines.