How do blizzards form

How do blizzards form? A blizzard is a long-lasting snowstorm with very strong winds and intense snowfall. You need three things to have a blizzard; cold air at the surface, lots of moisture, and lift. Warm air must rise over cold air. What are snowflakes? Snowflakes are made of ice crystals. Each snowflake is six-sided and made of as many as ice crystals.

Snowflakes form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing. The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that has been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind. As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall toward the ground. Why is snow white? Bright snow blinds us with its gleaming white color because it reflects beams of white light. Instead of absorbing light, snow's complex structure prevents the light from shining through its lattice formation.

A beam of white sunlight entering a snow bank is so quickly scattered by a zillion ice crystals and air pockets that most of the light comes bouncing right back out of the snow bank. What little sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed equally over the wavelengths of visible light thus giving snow its white appearance.

So while many natural objects get their blue, red, and yellow colors from absorbing light, snow is stuck with its white color because it reflects light. What is thundersnow? Thundersnow is when thunder and lighting occur during a snowstorm. This occurs most often in late winter or early spring. To get thundersnow, you need a mass of cold air on top of warm air, plus moist air closer to the ground.

Thundersnow starts out like a summer thunderstorm. The sun heats the ground and pushes masses of warm, moist air upward, creating unstable air columns. As it rises, the moisture condenses to form clouds, which are jostled by internal turbulence.

Even though most have a hexagonal structure, there are so many ways that water molecules can arrange themselves as the water freezes, that some people say that there are no two snowflakes alike. Probably no two snowflakes have exactly the same arrangement of molecules. But they can look alike. Many snow crystals are like the two in the photograph below. They are simple in shape and look alike. The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that have been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind.

As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall toward Earth. Different types of snowflakes form in different conditions. Temperature determines if the crystals become a flat plate, a long column, or a prism shape. On average, 10 inches of snow melt down to about an inch of water; however, not all snow is the same. Some places receive very heavy snow. For instance, only five and a half inches of January snow on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, melt down to an inch of water.

In contrast, over 15 inches of January snow at Crested Butte, Colorado, melt down to an inch of water. Snow is not the only type of ice that falls from the sky! Other types are described below. Graupel: Snowflakes that have become encrusted with ice. How do blizzards form? Where is Blizzard Alley? Next Story ». Related Stories.

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