16 Nebraskaland • November 2019
In Nebraska we experience a wide range of hazardous
weather events. The throes of winter are approaching soon,
and with it comes the possibility of a blizzard. For travelers,
campers, hunters and anglers on the ice, such high impact
storms can be dangerous if not deadly.
Blizzards are characterized by reduced visibilities (less
than a quarter mile) due to falling and/or blowing snow. As
such, there must be sustained winds or frequent gusts on
the order of 35 mph or greater. When it's winter and there's
a hefty breeze, this combo generally leads to low wind chill
temperatures with a risk of cold exposure to humans and
animals.
Blizzards impacting Nebraska generally gain strength as
low pressure systems move east out of the Rocky Mountains,
sometimes termed Colorado Low. While eastern North
Dakota experiences the highest number of blizzards on
average in the U.S., we have our fair share of several per year.
Perhaps you remember the March 2019 storm that
impacted the Plains? Western and Central Nebraska felt the
brunt of the cold side of this storm with road closures, cattle
losses and wind damage. Sometimes a series of these events
results in a doozy of a winter season.
Some seasons that stand out in our weather history are
2009-10 and 1948-49. The Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888
(named so because of its deadly toll on schoolchildren
trekking home in the absence of warnings) even spawned
the formation of a Greater Nebraska Blizzard Club in 1940.
Now, of course, we have eyes from space (satellite), ears
from the ground (radar) and detailed weather forecasts from
trained meteorologists who can time, track and measure the
intensity of these winter storms. Research has even shown
that naming storms results in people paying closer attention
to those warnings.
If blizzard conditions are in the forecast, be sure and take
precautions. And if you're like me, enjoy nature's spectacle
from a warm shelter and wait until the storm passes to
venture outside.
Martha D. Shulski, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is
the director of the Nebraska State Climate office.
IN THE FIELD
CANADA
GEESE
IN
A
FEBRUARY
BLIZZARD
IN
SARPY
COUNTY.
PHOTO
BY
JEFF
KURRUS.
BLIZZARDS
By Martha D. Shulski
