Note to Television Meteorologists and Journalists

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IF it is snowing heavily and IF winds are gusting above 50 mph and IF visibility is measured as a few hundred feet,
Conditions are not "blizzard like." It is a blizzard. 

I have seen the blizzard in the High Plains mischaracterized in this way literally a dozen times today both on air and online.

Thank you.

Comments

  1. BrianNovember 18, 2015 at 10:36 AM

    The technical definition of a blizzard is for these conditions (> 35mph winds, snow/blowing snow, and < 1/4 mi vis) for 3 hours. You can clearly have blizzard-like conditions for a half-hour in a snow squall - but it not technically be a blizzard. Otherwise we'll overuse Blizzard warnings. This happens quite a bit in the higher (exposed) passes of Colorado.

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