Lightning and thunder here and the snow is falling fast. Not a weather phenomena you see every day, so glad I saw it before I went to bed. Neat ABC article on thundersnow here points out that only .07 percent of snowstorms produce thundersnow. Also, per this article and the storm warning from the National Weather Service, thundersnow storms tend to produce the largest and most rapid amounts of snow.
Pic outside the front door, without a flash at 9:30 p.m.:

Not a whiteout, but definitely poor visibility
Here’s the same view, same time, with a flash which helps pick out the actual snow:

View outside the front door, with the flash on
Also, we lost power for just a second, flashed off and then back on, right before we noticed the lightning and heard the thunder. We temporarily lost internet access too, but its all good now.
Tags: 2011 blizzard, Chicagoland, Illinois, snowmageddon, snowpocalypse, thundersnow