Why does it thunder/lightning in the summer but not in the winter?

Question

Why does it thunder/lightning in the summer but not in the winter?

Answer 1

It does thunder and lightning occasionally in a snowstorm.  It's pretty uncommon, but sometimes cold air meets up with extremely cold air and the same thing happens as when cold air meets warm air.

Answer 2

We have thunder and lightening during snowstorms all the time in Chicago. I find it very fun to watch. (from inside!)

Answer 3

for starters, its warmer and more humid, therefore more evaporation and rain

more storms = more lightning

Answer 4

Well actualy it does thunder in the winter. But it is not as common as in the summer. this is called Thundersnow.

Answer 5

It really depends on where you are located.

Answer 6

It does thunder and lightning in the winter but more in the summer because there is greater temperature and humidity difference between air masses thus much more vertical movement and instability.

Answer 7

This has to do with vertical cloud development.  This happens inside cumulonimbus clouds, where you get a cloud sprouting upwards.  This energy is fed by warmer air, so it's more likely to happen in the summer.  These updrafts cause a division between negative and positive electrons.  Once the electrons are divided, they are attracted to jump towards each other to reunite, which of course is lightening.  So, summer has more vertical cloud development, therefore more lightening.

Answer 8

It may appear that there is more lightning in the summer, because there is more weather activity in the sense of thunder clouds due to increased evaporation and condensation.

Answer 9

in florida theres thunderstorms in january cuz its always humid down here

Answer 10

Lightning occurs less frequently in the winter because there is not as much instability and moisture in the atmosphere as there is in the summer. These two ingredients work together to make convective storms that can produce lightning. Without instability and moisture, strong thunderstorms are unlikely.

During the winter, the land surface is cooler because there is not as much heating by the sun to warm it up. Without warm surface temperatures, the near-surface air wouldn't rise in the atmosphere very far. Thus, the kinds of deep (8-15 km deep) thunderstorms that develop in the summertime wouldn't develop.

Warm air holds more water vapor. And, when water vapor condenses into liquid water cloud drops, latent heat is released which fuels the thunderstorm. So, warm, moist air near the surface (and the proper conditions aloft to give you lots of instability) can result in deep convection, which may produce lightning discharges.

Clouds become electrified when strong updrafts (fueled by the instability and moisture) bring supercooled liquid water drops and ice crystals at temperatures less than freezing (0 deg C) together. In this environment, interactions between the ice crystals and supercooled water droplets produce electric charges. The exact mechanisms by which this charging happens remain unknown. The electrical charges build up until they are strong enough to overcome the resistance of the surrounding air. The breakdown of the electric fields produced by these charges is the lightning bolt. *Credit to my friend sean for writing and giving me part of this*

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/faq/faq_ltg.php

Answer 11

It can thunder and lightning in the winter to, even if it is cold outside. Maybe it depends on your location, i don't know. But last winter we had several days where the temperature was in the 30s and there were several rumbles of thunder. In fact there were even a few severe thunderstorm warnings with the temps being in the 30s because of hail. A few areas, not us unfortunately, even had heavy thundersnow.