Hampshire snow: 'Thundersnow' reports after 'loud bang' heard over Southampton and Winchester

Social media users have reported hearing the noise in Southampton and Winchester earlier.

The noise is being attributed to ‘thundersnow’.

According to the Met Office this phenomenon is defined as: ‘When thunderstorms form in wintry conditions they can sometimes give rise to heavy downpours of snow which are often called 'thundersnow'.

‘Thundersnow is unusual only because it can only occur in a few months of the year.

‘When thundersnow occurs at night the lightning appears brighter - this is because the light reflects off the snowflakes.’

One users wrote on social media: ‘So this just woke up the whole village with a jump. Anyone else?’

Another added: ‘Man alive! That sure woke me up.’

One person wrote: ‘Woken up by Thundersnow?. It takes a lot to wake me but was that loud.’

Another users posted: ‘OK sounds like its thundersnow, but for a second there i genuinely did think apocalypse.’

One person shared: ‘It’s called thundersnow. Really rare phenomenon. Never heard anything like it! It was so loud and long!’

While the sound was compared to an atomic bomb by another user.

They wrote: ‘Well the consensus seems to be it was Thundersnow? (Explains the white layer that appeared almost instantly)

‘Never heard of TS before. It was the noise I imagine an atomic bomb makes when exploding! So loud!

‘Takes something extreme to wake me up this early on a Sunday!’

Follow all the weather updates in our live blog here.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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