The nor'-east was surround this week , withsnowaccumulation in excess of three feet in some areas . Hefting shovelfuls of snow gives a person metre to think , and as resident dug their way out of this white apocalypse , they might have marvel what , precisely , they were battling . Was it a snowstorm , or a blizzard ? What ’s thedifferencebetween the two ?
A snowstorm is your garden variety winter weather condition event . It can involvesnow , sleet , ice , or freezing rain and be keep company by stop dead temperatures . blizzard can result in wild surfaces and miserable driving weather condition , so they ’re nothing to technicality with .
A blizzard , on the other hand , brings veridical environmental violence . To meet the standard of a blizzard , conditions call for to regard three atmospheric condition events : Winds are hold up at 35 nautical mile per 60 minutes or more ; Charles Percy Snow reduces visibility to a quarter - mile or less ; and the condition must be expect to last for at least three hours .
One is not necessarily more severe than the other . A snowstorm could make pathetic visibility and strong winds for a few minute but not provide much collection . In fact , a blizzard may not even involve fighting snowfall if live C. P. Snow is being blown by wind . ( Blizzards are less plebeian in coastal regions because snow lean to be heavier and less prostrate to being moved around . ) But on the whole , blizzards tend to be more threatening , asconditionscan grow so bad that visibility is near zero and wind frisson factors invitefrostbiteor hypothermia .
The violent storm endured this calendar week was classified as anor’easter , which is an event identify by a abject - press system rise in the Mid - Atlantic coast and gaining strength as it move .
As impressive as this recent storm may be , there have been spoilt . In thenotoriousGreat Blizzard of 1888 , the northeast was hammered by as much as 55 inches of snow and current of air up to 85 miles per hour . Above - ground H2O and gas business froze , and walking was all butimpossible . Of the 1000 mass due in for workplace at the New York Stock Exchange , only 30 made it in .
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