Parts of the East Coast from Maryland up through southeastern New England are set to experience blizzard conditions with a winter bomb cyclone Sunday night into Monday morning. But what, exactly, makes a snowstorm a blizzard?
A blizzard doesn’t always mean “a lot of snow” though it can certainly bring heavy snowfalls, as this storm is expected to along the coast. Rather, the National Weather Service defines it as a snowstorm with winds regularly above 35 miles per hour and “considerable falling” or blowing snow for at least three hours. This weekend’s storm could dump one to two feet of snow in the worst hit areas and snowfall rates could reach 2 to 3 inches per hour. Wind gusts could reach 40 to 70 mph along the coast from New Jersey through New England.
Blizzard conditions can reduce visibility to less than 0.25 mile, which makes travel especially hazardous. New York City has put a travel ban on its roads starting at 9 p.m. on Sunday night.
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The winds and heavy, wet snow with this storm could also cause power outages by weighing down power lines and tree branches.
Blizzard conditions can develop along the northwest side of a very intense storm, as is the case with this system. This is because the major difference between the low pressure at the storm’s center and an area of higher pressure to the west creates very intense winds.
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