SO, we didn't wake up to a blanket of snow this morning - but many people were treated to thundersnow - a rare phenomenon for the UK where a thunderstorm produces snow instead of rain.

Readers in Poole, Corfe Castle, Wareham and New Milton all reported thunder and lightning and snow all at the same time. 

Thundersnow is created in the same way as a normal thunderstorm - the sun heats the ground and pushes warm, moist air upward, creating unstable air columns - but when it's cold

The tricky part for making thundersnow is creating that atmospheric instability in the wintertime. When it is cold, and particularly in air conducive to snowfall, the lower atmosphere is dry, cold and very stable.

For thundersnow to occur there needs to be a very precise set of circumstances - the air layer closer to the ground has to be warmer than the layers above, but still cold enough to create snow. When this happens warm air rises, snow falls and thunder, lightning and snow all occur at the same time.

The west of the county saw a little bit more of the white stuff, with Portland seemingly most affected. And despite several hours of snow forecast for Shaftesbury, residents woke to only a slight covering this morning.

 


 

 


 

Meanwhile, the Midlands and Scotland, saw heavy snow, with schools and roads closed. 

And if you were one of those confused by the loud rumbling you could hear in Poole in the early evening last night, it was firing at Lulworth.