You have to laugh when an adult, a serious on-camera meteorologist doing a live report, loses it and acts like a kid. Apparently thundersnow in Boston is what does it for The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore. I’ll admit thundersnow is an interesting phenomenon, and I’ve experienced it a couple of times — in upstate New York for sure, and possibly here in Colorado. But my reaction was considerably more tempered than this. This I’d have saved for something like winning the lottery.
“You gotta be kidding me!” How funny!
My first experience was in Colorado, I believe in 1989, late May. I was driving my 1984 Mustang, rear-wheel drive, through Wolf Creek Pass headed to southern Utah to go backpacking. When I went up into the pass it was cloudy, no big deal. Then I hit the first hairpin turn right after the crux of the pass and drove right into a snowstorm. At that same moment, a huge bolt of lightning streaked down the canyon straight out from my car. I was still living in Indiana at the time so I had only been through the Rockies a couple of times.
Terrified me, but was exhilarated at the same time.
Nature can be so amazing — if it doesn’t kill you. Lightning in the mountains is capricious and often deadly. My reaction probably would have been a lot like yours.
I get the impression from the video that this is Cantore’s first experience with thundersnow. Which seems highly unlikely for a meteorologist. But if it’s not his first experience with it, his reaction is … um … kinda weird. Or maybe not. The weather guys in Oklahoma tend to act like this during tornado outbreaks.
Probably just because of the rarity. At least that level of thundersnow. Those were some good lightning strikes in a wicked snowstorm.
Well if I die from a lightning strike during some freaky blizzard instead of a glorious thunderstorm, I’m gonna be pissed.
Ha!!
Some meteorologists get thrilled by the weirdest things sometimes. I still recall back when I was working in TV watching morning news at the hotel (since we were snowed in) and seeing a guy in Minnesota cackling because he did the water-to-ice trick during a sub-zero stand-up. Our meteorologists tend not to be that nuts around here in Tornado Alley. 😀
I’m just snooty enough to think tornadoes warrant a lot more attention and excitement than thundersnow. But at least it was more original than the water-to-ice stunt, the yardstick in the snow routine, or the climbing of mountains of snow.
Very true … but I’m thinking he may want to switch to decaf. 😀
LOL!
Oh no, this is not his first thunder snow. Jim is like this every time he gets to be out in it. It’s his favorite thing in the world. Tornadoes scare him senseless but thunder snow is like busting into the candy after Lent.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I tend to yawn at tornadoes unless a local expert tells me I’m at ground zero. (And we don’t have any experts in Denver.)
Sure enough, here he is carrying on in Chicago in 2011:
I loved watching this. He was so excited. Never heard thundersnow much less multiple times like this. No doubt this guy will go down in the extreme weather archives
Thundersnow is fun because it’s so incongruous. It’s like Mother Nature had a senior moment and added thunder and lightning to the recipe instead of cold and ice.
HA! Great descriptions