A bulletin released by the National Weather Service (NWS) at 4:36 p.m. on Sun. warns motorists to “avoid all travel tonight” and includes a forecast for snow to fall at a rate of 2 inches per hour at times during the overnight hours.
The high rate of snowfall combined with winds gusting to 35 mph will “reduce visibility to near zero”, according to the NWS bulletin.
There is also a warning for “thunder snow” for areas near the coast through 8 p.m. this evening.
Thunder snow — also known as a winter thunderstorm or a thunder snowstorm — is a rare thunderstorm with snow falling as the primary precipitation instead of rain, according to Wikipedia.com. It commonly falls in regions of strong upward motion within the cold sector of extratropical cyclones between autumn and spring when surface temperatures are most likely to be near or below freezing.
Thunder snow is a rare event, with an average of three reported incidents per year in the United States.
Keep checking The Lincoln County News website for further updates.
