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Blizzards
Alexis Koukounaras
Contents Page
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………. Pages, 1-2
Types of Blizzards………………………………………………………………..…………………………. Pages, 2-3
How dangerous are Blizzards? ............................................................................ Pages, 3-5
Natural/Unnatural Factors that makes differences in blizzards ………………………. Page 6
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… Page 6-7
Glossary …….…………………………………………………………………………………………………... Page 7
Bibliography …………..………………………………………………………………………………………. Page 7
Introduction
A blizzard is a strong, threatening and dangerous snow storm that must have specific factors
to be categorised as such. To be officially classified as a blizzard, winds must be at or past
56km/h and visibility to be reduced to less than 400m in front. These elements must be in
action for at least 3 hours to be classified as a blizzard while still lifting and blowing snow. A
severe blizzard has winds over 72km/h and sight is decreased to near zero visibility.
Surrounding temperatures must also be at -12oc or lower.
Before a blizzard takes place, there must be specific ingredients in order for it to actually
start. These ingredients needed for a blizzard are…
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Cold air, at a below freezing temperature, is needed to make snow. For snow to
form, there must be cold air in the clouds and on the ground. If it’s warm in the sky,
then obviously the snow won’t form and if it’s cold on the ground, then the snow will
melt before it hits.
Moisture is needed for clouds to take form and precipitation to take place. Moist air
is water vapour. When air blows over large bodies of water, it creates the vapour
which then floats to make moist clouds. Also, when the water evaporates, it brings
out vapour too and lifts it into the air.
Warm, rising air is also needed to form clouds and cause precipitation. In order for a
blizzard to form, warm air is needed to rise up and over cold air. This creates clouds
and more moisture to produce precipitation which will lead to snow.
Lastly required to make a blizzard, winds must be at a strong, powerful pace. If winds
do not reach 56km/h or more, it is not classified as a blizzard but a simple
snowstorm.
How a blizzard takes place is quite simple to understand. A traditional blizzard is formed
when the pairing of severe winter winds and heavy snow occur. It could also happen when
very strong winds hit an area that has had a recent drowning of snow. The winds will blow
around the area affected by snow and will lift and take some along its way. These powerful
winds will bring up piles and piles of snow that will whirl around, reducing vision and
burying cars, houses or even people. Luckily, not everywhere is affected by these dangerous
snowstorms, but some places seem to be quite unfortunate.
Places that attract and produce the most blizzards all share some type of quality or
similarity. Places with great, open, flat terrain are ideal so that the wind can travel at the
high speed it needs to. With nothing in its path, the wind can often reach is fullest power.
Also, cold temperatures are obviously needed. The air must have a chill in order for the
snow to be light and able to blow around. An example of where a lot of blizzards take place
is the Great Plains in the United States. It’s a massive stretch of flat, wide land and at time,
has a sudden large drop in temperature, less than needed to make a blizzard. They can even
take place in tropical islands, with high mountain tops of course. All the way up to the top is
where the cold air is and the air above is obviously a free, open space! So, there are many
places a blizzard can take place, but how often do these lands have to experience them?
How frequent blizzards are depends on their surrounding terrains. If a spot has bigger,
smoother land and is quite cold and snowy, it will experience a lot more blizzards then one
with hills, rocks and warmer temperatures. Like said before, the Great Plains gets loads of
blizzards due to its surroundings, so obviously places that relate to that will have a higher
chance of being struck by a blizzard then somewhere like the Coast of California, which is
still in America, as it has land disruptions and varying weather.
So that’s the basic information you need to know about these severe snow storms, although
it is referring to traditional blizzards. Not all blizzards regard the exact same informational as
this one, they may share similarities, but they do have a few differences.
Types of Blizzards
Unknown too many, there are actually 3 different types of blizzards discovered. Each
blizzard occurs differently and has different factors. Some have more specific needs to form
than others. The names of these blizzards are the Traditional/Snowstorm blizzard, a Ground
blizzard and a Lake Effect blizzard.
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Traditional/Snowstorm blizzards
Outlined in the introduction, a Traditional blizzard is defined as a severe snowstorm
which includes heavy snow fall, below freezing temperatures and reduced visibility.
Another leading factor is that winds must be at or past 56km/h which is what sets
apart the Traditional blizzard from the average snowstorm. This, and all other
actions, must all be in motion for at least 3 hours to be classified as a blizzard.
Ground blizzards
A Ground blizzard, unlike a Traditional blizzard, doesn’t dump snow in the midst of
the storm but picks up and blows around snow that has fallen previously. This
blizzard is one of the more frequent ones because, when the wind comes, the snow
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is already provided so the gusts can just whirl them up and around. Also, in a Ground
blizzard, there is no rain produced as all forms of water are presented in snow/ice.
Like blizzards themselves, the Ground blizzard also has 3 variations of how it is
displayed.
First, there is the Horizontal Advection, when the wind blows across the land in a
horizontal manner, given the name. There is very little, if any, upward motion. Next
is Vertical Advection, a large scale of upward motion which at times, could lift snow
up to 500m in height. Lastly, there’s Thermal Mechanical, which is the most deadly
as it is the most powerful. It is also the most sudden variation and can form
surprisingly quickly. Thermal Mechanical blizzards form very large convective rolls
and wind strengths which produces massive waves of snow. In extreme cases, these
type of ground blizzards can bury 2 story homes and make it quite difficult to
impossible to breath.
Lake – Effect blizzards
These kind of blizzards are usually seen by shorelines, larger lakes lakesides. The
forming of this blizzard begins when cold winds blows across warm bodies of water.
This air then lifts the vapour into the clouds and sky. There, it is frozen by the icy
temperatures and returns back to the ground as snow. This blizzard is one of the less
frequent ones as the snow may just fall into the large mass of water.
Comparing them all, in the end they all have relatively the same affects and require
the same factors. Briefly, they all need snow, wind, cold temperatures, and
precipitation of some sort to create their blizzard. They all end up with the related
affects as-well, being they leave towns covered in snow and can have deadly
outcomes.
The differences between each blizzard is that they may function a little differently
than each other. For some, the ordering and sequencing of events. For another,
maybe a small, little extra outcome. For example in a Traditional blizzard, the snow
comes with the wind and rain rather than in a Ground blizzard where they arrive
separately.
But as a result, they’re all classified as blizzards, a natural disaster. The same thing
varied in a few different ways, ways that may have some unique aspects but share
the some similarities such as aftermath and levels of danger. But really, how
dangerous are they?
How dangerous are Blizzards?
Although blizzards might not be as frequent or reoccurring as other natural disasters,
they still have a danger risk. Possible dangers of a blizzards include travel, illness,
economical struggles or possible floods. In the past, many people have been killed or
injured in all kinds of blizzards. There are many things to be scarce and careful of, a
list of them are...
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Sickness or Illness
Blizzards obviously require quite cold temperatures and are freezing. Living in these
temperatures could cause serious injury and sickness such as frostbite and
hypothermia. These include dangerously low body temperature, injury to body
tissues, frostbite affecting the nose, fingers and toes and could often result in other
illnesses like gangrene.
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Visibility
Sometimes, in severe cases, sight will be reduced to 3m also called zero visibility.
When it’s windy, there is literally zero visibility as the snow will just be blocking all
paths of sight. In these conditions, it is very dangerous to go outside as there is
possibilities of being buried by the snow. It is recommended to stay inside at all
times during a blizzard in case something bad were to happen.
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Travel
Cars must come to a complete stop during a blizzard because it would be very
dangerous if they were to be in motion. Ice could cover the road and streets and
cause cars to slide and skid. Another danger is people may get trapped in their cars
by all the snow and freeze to death waiting for the blizzard to pass. Cars could also
be buried by the snow and would be very hard to find and recover.
Floods
As the blizzard eases, the snow will start to melt and if there is heaps of snow, this
may cause a flood. What happens is the snow melts faster than the land can absorb.
This means that the snow will turn into large amounts of water and that most of it
may stay up on the surface.
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Other Dangers
There are a few more dangers blizzards can have that may be obvious or not. The
power of blizzards can sometimes be so forceful to bring down electrical wires,
which results in no electricity. They also have the power to bring down trees that can
fall on houses, buildings or cars. The snow of the blizzard can also become so heavy
that they create roof cave ins and break windows. They can also cause car accidents,
like stated before. Plants can also be buried and die in the midst of a blizzard. Lastly,
blizzards can bring on economical struggles. People are trapped in their houses,
therefore unable to get to work, jobs don’t get done and stores and businesses lose
money.
An example of an unfortunate blizzard is the 1972 Iran blizzard which took place on
the 3rd to the 9th of February. It experienced snow depths of 3m and sustained as
much as 7.9m. Unfortunately 4000 lives were lost and many were injured. The
outlying villages of Iran, Kakkan and Kumar, had no survivors. Turkey was also
affected by this snowstorm and in Sheklab, a Turkish village, 100 were buried in the
snow.
To provide some idea, here are some pictures of some of the worst effects blizzards
have had in the past.
Picture Source: http://ecology.about.com/od/Ecology/fl/The-11-Worst-Blizzards-inUS-History.htm
Picture Source: http://ecology.about.com/od/Ecology/fl/The-11-Worst-Blizzards-inUS-History.htm
Obviously blizzards have a fair few dangers to them so the question is, how can we
prevent them? What natural or unnatural factors be able to prevent blizzards and
what are some that might increase their power?
What natural or unnatural factors might prevent or cause a difference in blizzards?
In regards to factors to prevent blizzards, it can’t really be done. It’s natural so there
is very little way that it can be prevented, but what can happen is people can learn
ways to stay safe therefore stopping deaths. When a blizzard starts, some actions
people can take are…
Stocking up on food and water.
Having an emergency medicine kit.
Stay indoors at all times.
Watch out for illness, dress appropriately.
Know signs for hypothermia.
Eat and drink regularly, this means that one’s body will create energy to warm up.
When the blizzard’s cleared, clear snow carefully.
Now, factors that make a difference in blizzards actually exist although they may not
be good differences.
It’s called climate change and it will have a great effect on upcoming blizzards. At the
moment, climate change is saying that they yearly seasons will become more intense
as well as having a warmer climate. The temperature on earth will become moist
which is needed to create a decent blizzard. Despite the climate getting warmer, this
is actually making blizzards more intense. Yes, the winter will get shorter but its
means the storms and blizzards will become more powerful than before.
Also, if the temperature of earth does rise and become warmer, it means
temperature of the oceans/lakes will get warmer too. This will create more water
vapour and when cold air and water vapour mix, a blizzard occurs. So as a result, if
the climate were to change, not only would it increase the strength of blizzards, but
it would make them more frequent too.
Summing it up, blizzards can’t be fully prevented, but the affects can be changed and
lives could be saved. Also, climate change is bound to intensify the power and
frequency of blizzards
Conclusion
So, to conclude,
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A blizzard is a strong, threatening and dangerous snow storm that must have specific
factors to be categorised as such. To be officially classified as a blizzard, winds must
be at or past 56km/h and visibility to be reduced to less than 400m in front. These
elements must be in action for at least 3 hours to be classified as a blizzard while still
lifting and blowing snow.
A blizzard is caused by the mixture of cold air, warm rising air, moisture, high
pressure winds and precipitation. A traditional blizzard is formed when the pairing of





severe winter winds and heavy snow occur. It could also happen when very strong
winds hit an area that has had a recent drowning of snow.
The frequency of blizzards depends on its surrounding terrains.
Where blizzards usually occur are places with great, open terrain, where winds can
blow fast without being interrupted by various obstacles. The air must also be quite
cold.
There are 3 different types of blizzard. A Snowstorm/Traditional blizzard, a Ground
blizzard and a Lake-Effect blizzard. They have different methods but end up with the
same effects.
Various examples of the dangers of blizzards are sickness and illness, visibility, travel,
possible floods, economical struggles, car accidents and many more.
Blizzards can’t be stopped but losing lives can be. Climate change will increase
blizzard strengths and frequencies.
Hopefully this has provided unknown information about blizzards and can be of
relevant use in the future.
Glossary
Oxford Dictionary Definitions
Precipitation – Rain, snow, sleet or hail that falls and condenses on the ground.
Terrain – A large stretch of land.
Hypothermia - The condition of having an abnormally ((typically dangerously) low
body temperature:
Frostbite - Injury to body tissues caused by exposure to extreme cold, typically
affecting the nose,, fingers, or toes and often resulting in gangrene.
Bibliography
www.ehow.com/list_7582512_different-types-blizzards.html
www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/ways-to-stay-safe-in-a-blizzard-4437.aspx
www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-safety-winter-storm.htm
www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-effects/rain-and-snow.html
https://eo.ucar.edu/kids/dangerwx/blizzard3.htm
www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-climate-change-may-lead-to-biggerblizzards/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzard
www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/what-is-a-blizzard/5674708
www.basicplanet.com/blizzard/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Iran_blizzard