The most extreme form of a winter storm is the blizzard, which combines strong winds with falling or blowing snow to cause low visibility, deep snowdrifts, and intense wind chill. This combination of strong winds and blowing snow causes a general cessation of routine societal activities, making the blizzard the most dangerous of winter storms (Schwartz and Schmidlin, 2002).
The National Weather Service (NWS) defines a blizzard as winds over 16 m s−1 [35 miles per hour (mph), (30 knots)] and falling or blowing snow reducing visibility to less than 400 m (0.25 miles) lasting for at least 3 hours (Branick, 1997; NSIDC, 1999; NWS, 1999). An additional criterion for temperatures below 20°F (−7°C) was used for many years but was abandoned in the 1970s. Blizzards in Canada have regional-dependent definitions with one definition for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and another for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba (Lawson, 2002). Also, the Meteorological Office in Great Britain has...
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Cross-references
Airmass Climatology
Climate Hazards
Precipitation
Snow and Snow Cover
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Schwartz, R.M. (2005). Blizzard Climatology. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_30
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