Why doesn't it thunder&lightning when it snows?

Question

will someone please tell me this because it is driving me crazy! haha :]]

Answer 1

Snow tends to fall from relatively low topped clouds, and the cold air in the atmosphere does not allow for much if any instability, thus the clouds do not generate the required electrical fields for lightning.  

It can thunder and lightning during snow, but it is not common.  I have witnessed this a few times.  That occurs when, despite the cold temperatures, enough instability exists to allow the clouds to build up enough to generate a sufficient electrical field.

Answer 2

Because it is was too cold!!! LOL!!!

Answer 3

Yes it does.  It is called thundersnow

Although thunderstorms are less common in the winter, sometimes lightning can occur within snowstorms. Called thundersnow, relatively strong instability and abundant moisture may be found above the surface, such as above a warm front, rather than at the surface where it may be below freezing. Thundersnow is sometimes observed downstream of the Great Salt Lake and the Great Lakes during lake-effect snowstorms, too.

But Does lightning really happen during the winter?

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**

Answer 4

Sometimes it does but not too often. Evey time I hear it it surprises me. It usually only does it once, or not more than a very few times, unlike a spring, summer or fall storm where repeated strikes occur. I live in the Rocky Mountains in Utah. Maybe where you live conditions are different. Which brings up another question. I lived in Seattle for most of two years and it rained there but I can't recall ever seeing or hearing lightening. Does lightening occur there?