A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds of at least 56 km/h

(35 mph) and lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically three hours or more. A ground
blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling but loose snow on the ground is lifted and
blown by strong winds. Blizzards can have an immense size and usually stretch to hundreds or
thousands of kilometres. In the United States, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as a
severe snow storm characterized by strong winds causing blowing snow that results in low
visibilities. The difference between a blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind, not the
amount of snow. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts that
are greater than or equal to 56 km/h (35 mph) with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to
400 m or 0.25 mi or less and must last for a prolonged period of time—typically three hours or
more.[1][2]
While severe cold and large amounts of drifting snow may accompany blizzards, they are not
required. Blizzards can bring whiteout conditions, and can paralyze regions for days at a time,
particularly where snowfall is unusual or rare.
A severe blizzard has winds over 72 km/h (45 mph), near zero visibility, and temperatures of −12 °C
(10 °F) or lower.[3] In Antarctica, blizzards are associated with winds spilling over the edge of the ice
plateau at an average velocity of 160 km/h (99 mph).[3]
Ground blizzard refers to a weather condition where loose snow or ice on the ground is lifted and
blown by strong winds. The primary difference between a ground blizzard as opposed to a regular
blizzard is that in a ground blizzard no precipitation is produced at the time, but rather all the
precipitation is already present in the form of snow or ice at the surface.

Drifted snow near Burrow-with-Burrow, Lancashire, England, January 1963

The Australia Bureau of Meteorology describes a blizzard as, "Violent and very cold wind which is
laden with snow, some part, at least, of which has been raised from snow covered ground." [4]
The Oxford English Dictionary concludes the term blizzard is likely onomatopoeic, derived from the
same sense as blow, blast, blister, and bluster; the first recorded use of it for weather dates to 1829,
when it was defined as a "violent blow". It achieved its modern definition by 1859, when it was in use
in the western United States. The term became common in the press during the harsh winter of
1880–81.
In the United States, storm systems powerful enough to cause blizzards usually form when the jet
stream dips far to the south, allowing cold, dry polar air from the north to clash with warm, humid air
moving up from the south.[2][6]
When cold, moist air from the Pacific Ocean moves eastward to the Rocky Mountains and the Great
Plains, and warmer, moist air moves north from the Gulf of Mexico, all that is needed is a movement
of cold polar air moving south to form potential blizzard conditions that may extend from the Texas
Panhandle to the Great Lakes and Midwest. A blizzard also may be formed when a cold front and
warm front mix together and a blizzard forms at the border line.
Another storm system occurs when a cold core low over the Hudson Bay area in Canada is
displaced southward over southeastern Canada, the Great Lakes, and New England. When the
rapidly moving cold front collides with warmer air coming north from the Gulf of Mexico, strong
surface winds, significant cold air advection, and extensive wintry precipitation occur.

Conditions approaching a blizzard whiteout in Minnesota, on March 1, 2007. Note the unclear horizon near the
center.

Low pressure systems moving out of the Rocky Mountains onto the Great Plains, a broad expanse
of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, can cause thunderstorms and rain to
the south and heavy snows and strong winds to the north. With few trees or other obstructions to
reduce wind and blowing, this part of the country is particularly vulnerable to blizzards with very low
temperatures and whiteout conditions. In a true whiteout there is no visible horizon. People can
become lost in their own front yards, when the door is only 3 m (10 ft) away, and they would have to
feel their way back. Motorists have to stop their cars where they are, as the road is impossible to
see.
The winter of 1880–1881 is widely considered the most severe winter ever known in parts of the
United States. Many children—and their parents—learned of "The Snow Winter" through the
children's book The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in which the author tells of her family's
efforts to survive. The snow arrived in October 1880 and blizzard followed blizzard throughout the
winter and into March 1881, leaving many areas snowbound throughout the entire winter. Accurate
details in Wilder's novel include the blizzards' frequency and the deep cold, the Chicago and North
Western Railway stopping trains until the spring thaw because the snow made the tracks
impassable, the near-starvation of the townspeople, and the courage of her future husband Almanzo
and another man, who ventured out on the open prairie in search of a cache of wheat that no one
was even sure existed.
The October blizzard brought snowfalls so deep that two-story homes had snow up to the second
floor windows. No one was prepared for the deep snow so early in the season and farmers all over
the region were caught before their crops had even been harvested, their grain milled, or with their
fuel supplies for the winter in place. By January the train service was almost entirely suspended from
the region. Railroads hired scores of men to dig out the tracks but it was a wasted effort: As soon as
they had finished shoveling a stretch of line, a new storm arrived, filling up the line and leaving their
work useless.
Steroscopic view card showing "Blasting ice with dynamite from in front of steamer on the ways, by Stanley J.
Morrow" ~ A view of Yankton's riverfront after the flood of March 1881.

There were no winter thaws and on February 2, 1881, a second massive blizzard struck that lasted
for nine days. In the towns the streets were filled with solid drifts to the tops of the buildings and
tunneling was needed to secure passage about town. Homes and barns were completely covered,
compelling farmers to tunnel to reach and feed their stock.
When the snow finally melted in late spring of 1881, huge sections of the plains were flooded.
Massive ice jams clogged the Missouri River and when they broke the downstream areas were
ravaged. Most of the town of Yankton, in what is now South Dakota, was washed away when the
river overflowed its banks.[10][11]