What do you consider a BIG snowstorm???

Nearly a whole page and no one has mentioned the word “event”. Kudos.


Don’t know why but it’s reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard to me. Rainy, snowy, windy, cold, warm, and sunny describe well enough what’s going on outside

 

I was working in a juvenile detention during the blizzard of 1993. Went to work Sat. morning at 8:00am and stayed until Monday morning 8:00am-no one could get there, it was on top of a hill. Took turns taking naps with my partner.
Got home spent the next 2 days hauling fuel to my brother. He was working around the clock plowing with his bulldozer-nothing else would work on the secondary roads.
That's a blizzard!

 

Yup it’s not a blizzard until you see a state plow truck off the road and chained graders on US highways

 

I have to say they drive me nuts hyping up snow storms they go on and on about it then everyone buys up everything then whine about it for days after I have lived in new England my whole life and I never seen a winter where it didn’t rain snow sleet ice over ⛄️⛄️⛄️

 

I was a kid in the Blizzard of 78. I remember shoveling snow waste deep with my Dad
April Fools storm, 97’?, was a good one.
Cool but sunny morning, stepped out side to take a call from my boss, standing over newly bloomed crocuses. He told me to head home, there a storm coming. I doubt it, but ok.
I got 10 miles down the road to get on the Pike west at 128, and had started to snow. I got another 10 miles down the pike and road was treacherous
Just before 495, a grey LTD with Pennsylvania plates, passes me on my right doing the speed limit. A hundred yards in front of me He did a complete 360, straightened out and kept going like it was another day at the office.
Ended 30+ inches.
Anyone here from PA have a grey LTD?

 

Southwest Michigan... My rule of thumb is when the weather calls for a snowfall amount, you take the lower number, divide by two, and count yourself lucky to get that much.

We seem get a lot of steady, light lake effect snow, like the current forecast below. It may snow for a several days straight, and my most common snow removal tool is the leaf blower. It's faster than shoveling the light stuff until it gets more than 4" deep or so. I own a big snow blower just in case we get a big one, but unless it's super heavy the ATV does fine with anything less than 6" at a time. A foot at a time would start to impact us.

We average 75" a year. 100" is a good winter, and 115" is the best winter in recent memory. Drive to the upper peninsula of Michigan, they're in the 200's, and you still see houses with doors in the wall of the 2nd story. I was always told that was to avoid getting stuck in the house when you get drifted in. You can't push a door outward into drifted in snow.



2014 was the best one in recent memory...

 

Sustained winds of 35 mph or greater for 3 hours; visibility less that 1/4 mile.

The blizzard you saw with 6" of snow over 20 hours would have been classified as a "ground blizzard".

 

The old yooper woman (found in any bar) always says............

"Sex is like a blizzard....you don't know how long it will last or how many inches you'll get!"

 

Not trying to be all Billy bad @$$ here, but... I have lived my whole life in Dakotah Territory. We get snow, cold, and wind. The place I work has brought people from all over the US and I try to keep my mouth shut when a nubie tries to tell me they aren't scared of winter weather and where they come from they have blizzards too. I have personally known 3 people who have froze to death and heard of multiple others in the state. At work the ones that stay that are from out of state many times after a winter or 2 have told me "I thought I knew what a blizzard was until I moved here!" Complete white out as in you can't see past the hood ornament, -40° air temperatures, wind gusts into the 90s and very flat terrain. Snow amounts don't matter, I've seen fronts move through and not drop a flake but the wind is so bad that it picks up what is on the ground already and go white out. One of the worst was in the late 90s in April. Started off as rain and iced everything then dumped 18 inches and howled for days. Plows could hardly stay on the road due to ice under the snow once they were allowed back out, power lines snapped from ice weight and wind, the state was closed for 5 days basically and some areas went almost 2 weeks without power. Respect winter because it can and will kill you here!

 

I've forgotten all the legal definitions of "blizzard", but when we get snowed in, when the plows cant keep up, I guess that qualifies. A Nor'Easter just describes from whence It comes, not how much it dumps. Beyond those two, its just a snow storm .

I was a little peanut when '78 hit, my folks built the place were in, and they have stories.
Sca

 

Big?
Any amount that requires me to put the plow on the p/up.
That's big enough to ruin MY day

 

The very worst part has to be the sustained winds!

 

A storm big enough to put my plow in the truck makes me smile dollar signs!

 

I have been in snow country for 7 years. I haven't yet seen anything I would call a blizzard, but what would I know? There have been heavy snows.

 

Welcome to FHC. You'll like it here. We like beer, dogs and pics. Lots of pics. We have a lot of knowledgeable people here and willing to share.

 

You shrink in height as you age.

 

Where the heck is Beetle-Kill ? He could give some examples of lots of snow.......

 

My sentiments exactly.

The 12" snowstorm we got the other day was the most in a single event here a bit north of Milwaukee in the last 10 years. Then, ten years ago we had a 16-24" storm that literally had the city shut down. Freeways were closed and the police had to issue statements saying to not go out unless it was an emergency and if you needed help they wouldn't be able to send it. That was a Wednesday. I remember that I didn't want to use a vacation/ sick day but without the freeway, there was zero chance to get to work. Luckily our work shut down and no excuse/ vacation day was needed. We had 16" at our house but at work is only went up and at work for the 24".

The last few years we barely got any snow. This year, albeit after Christmas, which was a brown one, we have been getting a lot. Today again.. 4-6" now

Technically..
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

 

man, you are lucky. I'm not even sure we have received 9" at a time over by us over the past 8 years or so. All we get are these measly 2-3" snows at a time. We may actually be getting 4"-5" or so today. The most this winter so far at a time.

 

As you know the lake effect snow can really pile up. That 12" the other day we got, was only about 3" in West Bend.

Before the 12" we got early in the week, we got a 9" storm a few days earlier. We also received a few 2-4 and, 4 or so inch storms. We're way over the average we typically get here.

Snowmobile trails here are pretty good I hear. Heck, even I-94 in Kenosha was used recently. Video: Snowmobilers seen riding on Wisconsin highway during winter snowstorm

Lol