When do blizzards form

Even though a toastier climate would seem to run counter to having more snow, right now it seems like a warmer arctic could be driving more storms down into the U.

Or the jet stream could just be shifting, unrelated to rising temperatures up north. Probably not the best time to point this out, but there is some long-range guidance suggesting potentially noreaster number four about a week from now. Stay tuned. A snowstorm a week from today? Sara is an associate editor at PopSci where she writes about everything from vaccine hesitancy to extreme animal sex. Contact the author here. Instead, snow that had fallen before the blizzard is blown around or drifts in a way to create these conditions.

Blizzard conditions usually build up on the northwest side of a powerful storm system. The storm produces ample snow while strong winds develop because of a difference in pressure between the low pressure of the storm and the high pressure beyond the storm.

Conditions during a blizzard can be severe. Travel becomes dangerous when the blowing snow causes whiteout conditions and sky and ground look white. Roads can be partially or fully blocked by snowdrifts — piles of snow formed by the wind. Many times cold temperatures that can cause frostbite or hypothermia are part of a blizzard and can last for days after the storm has ended.

In the United States, blizzards are common in the upper Midwest and the Great Plains but occur in most areas of the country except for the Gulf Coast and the California coast. Blizzards can occur all over the world, even in the tropics where it is cold on high altitude mountaintops. How is snow formed? How do blizzards form? A blizzard is a long-lasting snowstorm with very strong winds and intense snowfall.

You need three things to have a blizzard; cold air at the surface, lots of moisture, and lift. Warm air must rise over cold air. What are snowflakes? Snowflakes are made of ice crystals. Each snowflake is six-sided and made of as many as ice crystals.

Snowflakes form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing. The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that has been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind. As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall toward the ground. Why is snow white? Bright snow blinds us with its gleaming white color because it reflects beams of white light. Instead of absorbing light, snow's complex structure prevents the light from shining through its lattice formation.

A beam of white sunlight entering a snow bank is so quickly scattered by a zillion ice crystals and air pockets that most of the light comes bouncing right back out of the snow bank. What little sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed equally over the wavelengths of visible light thus giving snow its white appearance.

So while many natural objects get their blue, red, and yellow colors from absorbing light, snow is stuck with its white color because it reflects light. What is thundersnow? Thundersnow is when thunder and lighting occur during a snowstorm. This occurs most often in late winter or early spring. To get thundersnow, you need a mass of cold air on top of warm air, plus moist air closer to the ground. Thundersnow starts out like a summer thunderstorm. The sun heats the ground and pushes masses of warm, moist air upward, creating unstable air columns.