[VixenPie (OP)]

hello all! I'm from newcastle in the north east of England and we've had torrential snow for the past five days now. it's lying about six inches on the floor now and we've not seen the sun for days, haha. thing is we've just had this massive thunder storm! in the middle of this huge flurry of snow and hail. the thunder was heard from here to the next city over, sunderland, and the rumble went on for over a minute. I've sat trawling the internet trying to work out how it's come about and I'm baffled.
go on, satisfy my curiosity

[SteveFish]

Here is a link to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, NSIDC, Q and A page. If you scroll down the page you will find your question on the left and the answer from the experts. While you are at it, read some of the other stuff, it is very interesting.

http://nsidc.org/snow/faq.html

Steve