<p>Although most thunderstorms produce rain, most rain does not have associated lightning, so one should expect that there are places with rain and snow but little lightning and thunder.</p>
<p>From an eyeball comparison of worldwide <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5665-2022" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) Global Lightning Climatology (WGLC) and time series, 2022 update,  Jed O. Kaplan and Katie Hong-Kiu Lau, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5665–5670, 2022">lightning strikes</a> and <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/GPM_3IMERGM" rel="nofollow noreferrer">precipitation</a> maps, it looks like coastal Alaska and northern British Columbia, southern Chile and most of the Southern Ocean between 45°S and 60°S (e.g. the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Islands" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kerguelen Islands</a>) are the places with the most lightning-free precipitation, with coastal northwest Europe not far behind.
Pretty much any place in on a west coast at latitudes between 45° and 60° North or South will have lots of precipitation but little lightning. The prevailing westerlies off the ocean bring frequent precipitation, but the surface rarely gets hot enough to generate classic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderstorm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">thunderstorms</a>.</p>
<p>The Arctic and Antarctic have even less lightning but also little precipitation. Polar lightning strikes have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091366" rel="nofollow noreferrer" title="Lightning in the Arctic, R. H. Holzworth, et al. (2021).  Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2020GL091366">recently been increasing</a>, however, probably due to increased temperatures from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_amplification" rel="nofollow noreferrer">polar amplification</a> of global warming.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-28T15:48:02.843Z
2023-02-28T19:12:02.207Z
2023-02-28T19:12:02.207Z
David Bailey
<p>I've been in Ukraine (Kiev) in the winter, and this winter was snowy and rainy but still I've never seen or heard neither <strong>lightning nor thunders</strong> there. What is the explanation for that?</p>
<p>I thought about two possibilities:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There are both, and I simply didn't see and listened. (It's strange I had there windows and the sky was in front of me)</p>
</li>
<li><p>Indeed there are neither lightning nor thunder in this place.
Then I would ask if there are another places like that.</p>
</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-24T18:04:52.233Z
Rain and snow without thunder and lighting is perfectly normal in many parts of the world. You don't need large contrasts in weather to produce rain or snow.
Jan Doggen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-12-24T19:08:28.590Z
To get lightning, you need convective clouds (cumulonimbus) with strong vertical air currents.  You can (and are probably more likely to, especially in winter) get rain & snow from clouds without much vertical movement, such as nimbostratus.
jamesqf
<lightning><thunderstorm>
Are there places with rain and snow but no lightning and thunder?
Ubiquitous Student
# Are there places with rain and snow but no lightning and thunder?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-12-24)

I've been in Ukraine (Kiev) in the winter, and this winter was snowy and rainy but still I've never seen or heard neither **lightning nor thunders** there. What is the explanation for that?

I thought about two possibilities:

1. There are both, and I simply didn't see and listened. (It's strange I had there windows and the sky was in front of me)
2. Indeed there are neither lightning nor thunder in this place.
   Then I would ask if there are another places like that.

**Tags:** lightning, thunderstorm

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Rain and snow without thunder and lighting is perfectly normal in many parts of the world. You don't need large contrasts in weather to produce rain or snow.  
> **username_2**: To get lightning, you need convective clouds (cumulonimbus) with strong vertical air currents.  You can (and are probably more likely to, especially in winter) get rain & snow from clouds without much vertical movement, such as nimbostratus.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-02-28. Score: 3

Although most thunderstorms produce rain, most rain does not have associated lightning, so one should expect that there are places with rain and snow but little lightning and thunder.

From an eyeball comparison of worldwide [lightning strikes](https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5665-2022 "World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) Global Lightning Climatology (WGLC) and time series, 2022 update,  Jed O. Kaplan and Katie Hong-Kiu Lau, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5665–5670, 2022") and [precipitation](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/GPM_3IMERGM) maps, it looks like coastal Alaska and northern British Columbia, southern Chile and most of the Southern Ocean between 45°S and 60°S (e.g. the [Kerguelen Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerguelen_Islands)) are the places with the most lightning-free precipitation, with coastal northwest Europe not far behind.
Pretty much any place in on a west coast at latitudes between 45° and 60° North or South will have lots of precipitation but little lightning. The prevailing westerlies off the ocean bring frequent precipitation, but the surface rarely gets hot enough to generate classic [thunderstorms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderstorm).

The Arctic and Antarctic have even less lightning but also little precipitation. Polar lightning strikes have [recently been increasing](https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091366 "Lightning in the Arctic, R. H. Holzworth, et al. (2021).  Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2020GL091366"), however, probably due to increased temperatures from the [polar amplification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_amplification) of global warming.


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