Know Your Snow: ‘Blizzard’ Facts

With all this talk about a pending blizzard, you might ask yourself what "blizzard" really means.

Did you know that blizzard conditions can occur without it even snowing? It's true. The National Weather Service criteria is as follows:

--Sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph or greater.

--Considerable falling and/or "blowing" snow reducing visibility frequently to 1/4 mile or less.

--These conditions must last for a period of three hours or more.

So you can have snow on the ground that gets picked up by powerful winds causing blizzard conditions without actually having snowfall occurring at the time.

By the way, there's no temperature criteria associated with a blizzard.