Thundersnow? Northeast State of Emergency Blizzard Juno May Bring It #Snowmageddon2015

A man clears snow from a vehicle on Friday, Jan. 3, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. A winter storm slammed into the U.S. Northeast with howling winds and frigid cold, dumping nearly two feet (60 centimeters) of snow in some parts and whipping up blizzard-like conditions Friday. AP Photo/Mike Groll

Thundersnow maybe part of winter storm Juno that has already caused a state of emergency to be declared by several Northeast states.

This massive storm may bring an extremely rare phenomenon of lightning and thunder while snowing 2-4 inches per hour. This combination is called thundersnow.

Many areas are expected to get 1-2 feet of snow, possibly more, and wind gusts predicted to be between 40 and 60 MPH.

Thundersnow requires a very severe storm in order to occur. Severe enough winds can cause upward motion inside of the storm cell, this will cause collissions between ice crystals and snowflakes.

These collisions are similar to shuffling your feet on the carpet and getting a static shock when you touch a door nob.

As the charges separate, the difference between them grows. This can cause intercloud lightening, the most common form of lightening on the planet.

All of the snow and ice crystals make the flash of the lightening more intense, but will actually muffle the sound of the thunder, making it not carry as far as usual.