The Thundersnow...

So yesterday's forecast was a mixed bag of precipitation.

The NWS called for snow, sleet, rain, and a thunderstorm warning with dangerous lightening.
Well we had it all.
Before I left for work, we had heavy downpours with lightening that cracked and sizzled.

When I got to our ridge road which is gravel, the rain was freezing instantly to the cold road.
It made for an interesting and somewhat white knuckled drive to the county road.

Once on the blacktop though, it was fairly good driving, if one didn't mind the flashes of lightening, and the heavy downpours.
Water ran across the road as the culverts are still filled with snow and ice.

Once I got in and out of town, I got bombarded by hail. Big nasty chunks, or was it ice pellets?
I didn't know.

I made it to the wayside where I usually stop and call hubby to tell him that I've made the drive to work just fine. Another coworker was there too. So we sat in her vehicle and chatted while watching the Mississippi River.

There were fishermen in a boat just below the dam.
We thought they were nuts!

The thunder and lightening then combined with a heavy 'downpour' of snow. Within minutes we couldn't see more than 40 feet. In 20 minutes the wet road in front of us became a hazardous highway of snow with vehicles crawling.

Thundersnow is an interesting phenomena according to different sites I've looked at, they are supposed to be rare.
But ever since I've moved to this area in 1996, we've had one every February without fail.

It is quite disturbing to have heavy snow fall combined with flashes of lightening and deep rumbling thunder that you can feel.
As with most storms at this time of year, it was short lived and the sun shines today.