In honor of the recent snowstorm that took Illinois by…um…storm, I guess, here are thirteen fun facts about blizzards.
1. A blizzard, as defined by the National Weather Service, is a storm in which temperatures remain below freezing, winds are at or above forty miles an hour, with falling or blowing snow and visibility reduced to a maximum of 1/4 mile, for a duration of at least three hours.
2. One of the dangers blizzards is caused by blowing snow. Known as “white-out”, snow carried by the wind reduces visibility to zero.
3. A second danger that accompanies blizzards is wind chill. Wind chill is the effect of the wind removing the warmth of your body faster than the air temperature would normally. If the blizzard occurs when the air temperature is 10 degree F and the wind is blowing 35 mph, the perceived temperature feels like 37 degrees below zero. At this wind chill frost bit occurs on exposed skin in less than 30 minutes.
4. Don’t eat snow. Eating snow will actually lower your body temperature and can hasten the onset of hypothermia.
5. In 1888, a storm called The Schoolhouse Blizzard struck the Plains states in January, stranding many children in their small schoolhouses. 235 people died, many of them children who attempted to walk home in the blizzard.
6. Also in 1888, the Great Blizzard dumped between 40 and 50 inches of snow on New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Snow drifted into piles towering fifty feet.
7. If someone is experiencing hypothermia, work to raise their core body temperature. Treating the extremities first actually drives cold blood into the body core which could lead to heart failure.
8. The name “blizzard” originated in the United States. It was used by an Iowa newspaper in 1870 to describe a snowstorm. Previously the word was used to describe a canon shot or volley of musket fire.
9. In Mongolia, Siberia, and other parts of Asia there is a wind known as the Buran that typically creates blizzard conditions, sometimes closing mountain passes for weeks.
10. In Alaska this type of wind is called the Burga and typically carries snow and ice pellets.
11. It is possible to have blizzard conditions when no snow is falling. High winds can pick up previously fallen snow and carrying it into the air. This is known as a ground blizzard. Ground blizzards usually require large, flat, open spaces and dry, fluffy snow.
12. There are three types of ground blizzards. Ground blizzards caused by horizontal advection, wind blowing flat across a surface blows snow but has little upward lift. With Vertical Advection the winds have strong upward motion which lifts snow high into the air. If a ground blizzard occurs due to thermal-mechanical mixing, winds and snow form massive convection rolls of moving snow in the atmospher, large enough to be viewed from space. These types of conditions can bury a two-story house and suffocate those caught outdoors.
13. The Blizzard Treat at Dairy Queen was introduced in 1985. That year, Dairy Queen sold 100 million Blizzards.
Great information! Number eight is especially interesting. I’ll have to tell my military buff of a partner about that. Thanks for sharing!
This: 11. It is possible to have blizzard conditions when no snow is falling. I had no idea!!
Happy TT!