From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Snowstorm" redirects here. For other uses, see Snowstorm (disambiguation).
A winter storm is an event in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are forms that only occur at cold temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice to form (i.e. freezing rain). In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessarily restricted to the winter season, but may occur in the late autumn and early spring as well. Very rarely, they may form in summer, though it would have to be an abnormally cold summer, such as the summer of 1816 in the Northeast United States of America. In many locations in the Northern Hemisphere, the most powerful winter storms usually occur in March (such as the 1993 Superstorm) and, in regions where temperatures are cold enough, April.
Approaching winter storm in Salt Lake City.
Snowstorms are storms where large amounts of snow fall. Snow is less dense than liquid water, by a factor of approximately 10 at temperatures slightly below freezing, and even more at much colder temperatures.[citation needed] Therefore, an amount of water that would produce 0.8 in. (2 cm.) of rain could produce at least 8 in (20 cm) of snow. Two inches of snow (5 cm.) is enough to create serious disruptions to traffic and school transport (because of the difficulty to drive and maneuver the school buses on slick roads). This is particularly true in places where snowfall is uncommon but heavy accumulating snowfalls can happen (e.g., Atlanta, Seattle, London, Dublin, Canberra, Vancouver and Las Vegas). In places where snowfall is common, such as Utica, Detroit, Denver, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, NY, Toronto and Minneapolis, such small snowfalls are rarely disruptive, because winter tires are used, though snowfalls in excess of 6 in (15 cm) usually are.
A massive snowstorm with strong