system
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human
ELI5: why do snow storms not produce lighting like traditional thunderstorms?

It’s snowing and I just blew my own mind with the realization that I’ve never heard or seen lightening during snow storms, even severe ones. My thought is that it’s the same amount of moisture as a rain storm, so would it be due to pressure or temp differences?
gpt
It can thunder and lighting during a snow storm.  It's  called Thundersnow.  


The Science

Also known as thunder snowstorms or winter thunderstorms, a thundersnow only happens when a rare set of conditions occur. In fact, people only witness about 6.3 thundersnow events each year. Typically between late winter and early spring when the air beneath the clouds is warmer near the ground than the air in the upper cloud layers. The cumulonimbus cloud (towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top, as in thunderstorms) must be lower than a typical thunderstorm, and the warmer air temperature must still be cold enough to form snow. Thunder snowstorms usually create snowflakes, soft snow pellets, hail and strong “gravity wave” currents of air similar to ocean waves. The lightning produced appears in purplish-blue flashes.