WHY THUNDER AND LIGHTNING?
One atmospheric event normally associated with the rising of moist air are clouds and precipitation (convection). If this rising of moist air is strong enough, it can produce thunderstorms. Although we usually associate thunderstorms with the summer season, we can see them in any season under the right conditions. When we have an influx of very warm, moist air at the lower levels, along with high positive lapse rates and some mechanism to force the air to rise, thunderstorms become likely. Although relatively rare in winter storms of average intensity, it is actually not that unusual to get thunderstorms in a winter storm of very high intensity such as this one. As we have noted, we had quite warm, moist air getting pulled into the right side of the storm at the surface and lower levels of the atmosphere. In addition, here is a chart of mid-level lapse rates for this storm at its height; the high numbers over the northeast show just how unstable the air was, i.e. how easily it would be
