By Shaun Penner

Thunder Snow

Rain, snow, thunder and lightning: Overnight storm brings plethora of weather to Grande Prairie

Nov 5, 2020 | 1:10 PM

Thunder and lightning… in November?

That is what many from the Grande Prairie area were awoken to early Thursday morning, as a winter storm moved through the area.

According to Environment Canada Meteorologist Blaine Lowry, the storm occurred around 3:30 a.m. on November 5 as a pacific cold front arrived to make contact with the warmer system the area had been experiencing earlier in the week, that brought with it some strong wind gusts and a plethora of other weather events.

“What happened was basically the cold front associated with that low pressure system came through between 3 and 4 a.m., depending on exactly where you are in relation to Grande Prairie, and brought a mixed bag of winter precip(itation).

“So, some rain, some freezing rain, some snow showers… and there was also enough instability in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere, as that cold front came through, to produce some lightning strikes.”

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Lowry says it is not unheard of for “thunder snow” to occur during the colder months of the year, though it is more of a rare occurrence than in the warmer months.

He says it has more to do with the instability of weather systems that collide in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere, rather than the time of year or season.

“I think a lot of people tend to associate lightning with those warm, humid days in the summer. While we often do see lightning on those types of days when storms move through, really if you have the unstable air mass in those mid and upper levels at any time of year, you can get lightning.”

Lowry adds wind gusts reached about 70 km/h for a short time during the storm, before dropping to between 40 and 50 km/h.

The storm also left many area roadways covered with snow and ice for the morning commute in the Grande Prairie area.

More harsh winter weather could be on the way for Alberta this weekend, according to Environment Canada, but Lowry says the Grande Prairie area should not see too much significant weather activity over the weekend.

“I think northwestern Alberta, generally, escapes it. You really have to go south of Highway 16 (Yellowhead) and east of Highway 2 (QE II) to really get into any appreciable snowfall amounts this weekend.”