Hiya Wxman!

[meridian]

We're hoping to fly to the Alps very early Sunday.

The irony of it...

I'll be leaving the Alps (where we've had one brief day of snow at lake level so far, and a light dusting this afternoon) and driving to the UK on Friday.

Just in time for the thunder snow

[Clippy]

There was a video of this on the BBC News website.

It was from the beginning of the year and popped up in the 'most viewed' list when the recent snowy weather started.

Will post a link if I can find it.

[DimPrawn]

We had thunder and lightning in the snow a week or two back... thought we were imagining the thunder but other people corroborated it.

Yes, had that near Newcastle, heavy snowfall with flashes of lightning and very loud thunder. Very odd.

[d000hg]

We had thunder and lightning in the snow a week or two back... thought we were imagining the thunder but other people corroborated it.

[cojak]

Thunder snow. Never heard of it, please explain.

(Yes I know Wikipedia - but wxman's better.)

[cojak]

We're hoping to fly to the Alps very early Sunday.

The irony of it...

[BlasterBates]

...ok so if I've understood correctly, our nuts will be frozen off at the end of the week and then it gets warm again just in time for Christmas (thx God...I do apologise for somethings I may have said last week).

[wxman]

Hiya Cojak!

I DO agree with Mr Bastardi on this one (some of his Hurricane forecasts can be way off however…)

Thursday is looking REAL interesting now - so much so that I am taking the day of work for a possible video opportunity!

In summary, on Thursday a powerful cold front will sweep (quickly) North to South across the UK. The air mass behind of this front will be VERY cold. And where it interacts with the warmer air ahead of it a squall line may setup which the effects of high straight line winds, short sharp rainfall turning rapidly to snow.
There is also a real risk of thunder snow (rare in the UK) and this is what I want to capture on Video. Following behind the front will be snow showers (difficult to forecast positions this far out).

The real risk will be short heavy rainfall washing away salt from the roads. The roads then freeze rapidly in the cold air behind the front leading to widespread ice. All this occurring during the day when folk will be out driving.

Take a look at my forecasting engine (Leicestershire only) and you can see the effect of the cold front from Thursday onwards. Linky

[cojak]

So are you and my second favourite weatherman Joe Bastardi in agreement over next week?

AccuWeather.com - Joe Bastardi European Weather Blog