Re: 'snowstorm vs. blizzard'

Quoting taliesin the storyteller <taliesin-conlang@...>:

> * 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 :)
Herearounds, a "storm", in technical usage, implies wind speeds of 20.8-32.6
m/s (may be subdivided into "half storm", "storm" and "severe storm", with
divisions at 24.5 and 28.4 m/s). I do not know if "snowstorm" has a technical
definition, but I'd expect one to have storm strength winds.

Now, I was under the impression a North American blizzard was worse than a
mere Scandinavian snowstorm, which indeed turns out to be quite exaggerated.

> Ever been in a snow hurricane?
Not that I know. The worst I ever was in was no worse than you could actually
walk against the wind (but still enough to stop school on account of packing a
few metres of snow on the road most teachers would have been coming via!).

                                         Andreas (from the warm south)