The warning has been issued today amid multiple Met Office yellow warnings for snow and ice across Northern Ireland
The Met Office has issued a rare ‘thundersnow’ warning today, which is set to impact parts of Northern Ireland.
Thundersnow – as the name suggests – involves heavy snowfall rather than rain as the primary precipitation, often accompanied by thunder and lightning. The unusual phenomenon occurs when the atmosphere is turbulent enough to form cumulonimbus clouds and typically happens around 10 times a year worldwide, the Mirror reports.
Some areas – such as the North York Moors and the Scottish Highlands – expecting snow showers today and into Thursday could see thundersnow, as a cold Arctic wind on Wednesday brings snow showers across northern Scotland, which BBC Weather warns may become thundery.
There is also a chance of thundersnow in Northern Ireland, eastern England, west Wales and south-west England, Aberdeen Live reports.
It comes amid multiple Met Office yellow warnings for snow and ice across the UK. An amber snow alert is in place on Thursday, covering North East England (Redcar and Cleveland) and Yorkshire & Humber (East Riding of Yorkshire; North Yorkshire).
The Met Office said of the amber alert: “Frequent wintry showers will feed inland from the North Sea, giving significant snow accumulations over the North York Moors and parts of the Yorkshire Wolds.
“By the end of Thursday, as much as 15-25 cm may have accumulated on hills above 100 m elevation, which is likely to cause substantial disruption. Gusty winds, giving occasional blizzard conditions, and perhaps a few lightning strikes, may accompany some of the showers, posing as additional hazards.”
Five separate snow and ice yellow warnings are also in place across much of the country on Thursday, covering:
- North East England
- SW Scotland, Lothian Borders
- Yorkshire & Humber
- Northern Ireland
- East of England
- South West England
- Wales
- Central, Tayside & Fife
- Grampian
- Highlands & Eilean Siar
- Orkney & Shetland
- Strathclyde
The cold snap is expected to last until Friday, when temperatures are forecast to start rising.
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