Drone captures incredible views of thundersnow over Buffalo skyline amid historic snowstorm
Drone video captured the surreal nighttime scenes over the Buffalo skyline Thursday night, showing a mix of intense snow squalls blowing in off Lake Erie along with the occasional flash of lightning.
Watch: Drone shots of thundersnow over the Buffalo skyline
Incredible drone shots of thundersnow over the Buffalo skyline. Timelapse showing lake effect snow pushing in over the city. One shot resembles a haboob due to the sharp gradient.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – A historic winter storm pummeling western New York is not only bringing the prospects of multiple feet of snow to the Buffalo area, but the storms are powerful enough to add in a rare display of thundersnow.
Drone video by Live Storm Media's Brandon Clement captured the surreal nighttime scenes over the Buffalo skyline Thursday night, showing a mix of intense snow squalls blowing in off Lake Erie along with the occasional flash of lightning.
Thundersnow is the same as a regular thunderstorm, only getting the nickname when accompanying snowfall. Its lightning is just as dangerous.
Thundersnow captured in West Seneca, New York
Video captures thundersnow taking place in West Seneca, New York Thursday night.
FOX Weather meteorologist Marissa Lautenbacher said warm air can be pulled into the snowstorm, which would cause the system to be more convective and unstable.
THUNDERSNOW: WHAT CAUSES LIGHTNING AND THUNDER DURING A SNOWSTORM?
Drone footage captures thundersnow amid a strong lake-effect snow squall in Buffalo, N.Y. on Nov. 17, 2022.
(Brandon Clement / Live Storms Media / FOX Weather)
"The turbulent winds within the storm cause the ice crystals to slam into each other," she said. "This results in a separation of charges in the storm, similar to the static you'll get rubbing your hair onto a balloon. When the charges build up, you'll get enough to create lightning."
Satellite shows thundersnow across lake-effect snowstorm
GOES-16 satellite imagery shows lightning flashes amid a lake-effect snowstorm that is bringing snow measured in feet to parts of western New York. (VIdeo: NOAA / CIRA)
Thundersnow can occur anywhere heavy snow is falling but has been observed many times during lake-effect snowstorms such as the one hitting western New York this week.
Several storm chasers and photographers have captured thundersnow on video already during this event, which will likely go down in the record books as one of the most powerful snowstorms in Buffalo history.
Thundersnow occurs in Buffalo, NY
FOX Weather’s Katie Byrne captures video of thundersnow in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday evening.
WATCH: LIVE LOOK AT POTENTIALLY HISTORIC LAKE-EFFECT SNOWSTORM IN WESTERN NEW YORK
Already more than a foot of snow had fallen across the region as of Friday morning with several more hours of snowfall yet to go, leading to predicted storm snowfall totals of 2-4 feet.