Re: 'snowstorm vs. blizzard'

* jcowan@reutershealth.com said on 2003-12-23 17:43:58 +0100
> Andreas Johansson scripsit:
> > If it means you could have a "blizzard" in which you can see a, say,
> > a car 150 m away and with wind speeds of no more than 15 m/s, my
> > impression of what intensity the word implies is quite exaggerated.
>
> Evidently so.
>
> A "severe blizzard" means that the wind speed exceeds 45 mph (72
> km/hr, 20 m/s), visibility less than 100 feet (30 m), and temperature
> at or below 10 deg F (-12 deg C).  This may be more what you have in
> mind.
That's what a snowstorm is defined as in these here parts :) (Though
might be the harsh end of the scale) Ever been in a snow hurricane?
(Seeing a car be lifted was.. well.. We shouldn't have tried going to
the movies that night ;) ) If it's a storm, whatever is falling doesn't
"fall" per se as that for me at least means dropping along a line normal
to the ground. If there's enough wind, things doesn't as much fall as
move almost horizontally.

Yesterday, it was -5C to -10C, 10 to 15 meter visibility, snow hitting
the ground at about 45-50 degree angle, but the flakes was of such a
type that it didn't have the usual sander-effect on exposed skin. (The
low visibility was also due to the type of snow, it wasn't really a
storm. Dry, small, very light flakes, so easily pushed even by a little
wind. Wet, big flakes are worse.) Today it's been a pleasant -7 to -3 C
though no sun.


t., who lives by the mild and pleasant coast, where the winter is wet
and icy more than white and cold. I hope the snow stays the week.

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