Answer to "thunder and snow" question

THUNDER SNOW? -- The Filik's (Middlesex County, NJ) contacted us with following situation: "It was a stormy night on January 14, 2006; warm temperatures during the early part of the day gave way to a chilly, windy (gusts up to 50mph or more) afternoon. Temperatures continued to drop (with near blizzard conditions developing into the evening. Around 10 pm the entire sky lit up whitish blue, but there was no sound , no thunder. The light didn't come from one single source or area, but it covered the entire sky, lighting up the nearby neighborhood, house and yard. During the next 15 minutes, it happened twice again. The entire sky as far as could be seen was lit up. It looked like what is portrayed in movies as a nuclear blast. But there was no mention of this on the local news. Curious? Was it thunder snow?"

Please see the answer to the previous thunder snow question above.

In this case, however, all weather data points to something other than thunder snow. Radar data and surface weather reports show no evidence of thunderstorms in New Jersey that evening.

Instead, you probably saw the light from transformers on power poles overloading and exploding. These could have been caused by trees falling on power lines or just large branches rubbing against the lines. From a distance, with snow or rain in the air and low clouds present, the light from these would be scattered and reflected across the sky. From a large distance, you wouldn't hear the sound of the small explosions.

I am almost 100% certain there were at least scattered power outages in your area. Were these outages mentioned on the Tv news or in the newspaper? Were there any reports of trees blown down?

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