difference between thunderstorm and thundershower
Rank: F5 Superstorm Group: SuperModerator Posts: 10,181 Joined: 7-January 08 From: Nashua, New Hampshire Member No.: 11,976. --------------------. I do not think that there is really a difference, but just two names for basically the same thing. It's like partly cloudy and partly sunny-they mean the same thing. Usually, however, a thundershower is described as a rain shower with a few rumbles of thunder while a thunderstorm has heavier rain with much more thunder and lightning than a thundershower. Again, no real meteorological difference, just the way they are described.
A thunderstorm is defined as: In general, a local storm, invariably produced by a cumulonimbus cloud and always accompanied by lightning and thunder, usually with strong gusts of wind, heavy rain, and sometimes with hail. (AMS Glossary of Meteorology). The aviation weather code for a thunderstorm is TRW. T=thunder.