5 Blizzards Killer Snowstorms

CHAPTER 1 What Is a Blizzard? WINTER WEATHER CAN BE COLD, WINDY, AND SNOWY. SOMETIMES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SNOW, WIND, AND COLD ALL AT THE SAME TIME. THIS KIND OF WEATHER IS A BLIZZARD. A blizzard is a very strong and dangerous snowstorm. The snow falls for many hours. The winds are very, very strong— 56 kilometers an hour or more. And the temperature is very low— far below 0C Celsius. To have a blizzard, there must be three things. First, there has to be cold air. Second, there has to be warm air above the cold air. Third, there has to be a lot of moisture in the air. In a blizzard, heavy snow falls for many hours, or sometimes for many days. In Thompson Pass, Alaska, in 1953, 475 centimeters of snow fell in seven days. On January 25, 2011, in New York City, 48 centimeters of snow fell in two days. The city closed all schools and airports.

CHAPTER 2 The Cold RUSSELL COX KNOWS BLIZZARDS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS. In March 2004, Russell Cox and his wife, Brenda, went for a walk in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The weather in these mountains changes quickly. It can be very nice one minute, and very bad a few minutes later. They walked up near the top of one of the mountains. They were in the clouds. Snow started to fall. At first, the snow was light. When they reached the top, the snow was very heavy. Russell and Brenda started to walk down the mountain. It was dangerous. They walked into a blizzard. The sky was very gray. Everything was the same color. It was almost impossible to see or walk. Russell and Brenda didn't know where they were! Because the weather was freezing cold, Russell and Brenda started to get hypothermia. The body's normal temperature is about 37C Celsius. In very cold weather, the body's temperature can go down below normal. Then, a person cannot think. The heart becomes slow. Breathing becomes slow. This is hypothermia. It is very dangerous. You can die from it.

When the body is very cold, it starts to shiver. Shivering is a way to make your body warmer. Russell and Brenda became colder and colder. It was -40C Celsius. They shivered more and more. They were in the blizzard for 36 hours. But then, Brenda stopped shivering. Her body temperature was too low. Thirty-six hours was too long for her, and she died. The next morning, people found Russell and rescued him. He survived, but he was very sick because of the hypothermia. He had frostbite on his feet. Frostbite comes from very cold temperatures and strong wind. It damages your body. A part of your body, like a hand or foot, freezes and dies. Doctors must take off this part. Russell lost 70 percent of his right foot and 30 percent of his left foot to frostbite. Russell learned how dangerous cold can be.

CHAPTER 3 The Snow IN A BLIZZARD, THE COLD AIR IS VERY DANGEROUS. PEOPLE CAN GET HYPOTHERMIA AND FROSTBITE. SOMETIMES THEY DIE. SNOW IS ALSO DANGEROUS. In a blizzard, the snow can fall for many hours or days. It can be very high. How much snow is too much? In the Pacific Northwest of the United States, about 15 meters of snow falls each year. It has the most snow of all places in the US. The snow is beautiful, clean, and white, but DarryI Jane learned that it is also deadly. In November 2006, Darryl Jane was driving his car from Oregon to Washington State. He wanted a quiet day far from the city. The sun was bright and the sky was blue. There was no snow. Darryl drove higher into the mountains, and snow started to fall. It became very heavy. He was 80 kilometers from any town. He started to feel worried. Darryl decided to go back home. He tried to turn around, but the car didn't go. The snow was too high. And a terrible blizzard was very close.

Darryl left his car to get help, but there was nobody around. Darryl went back to his car. He did the right thing. In a blizzard, a person cannot survive outside for long. In the morning, over 60 centimeters of snow fell. For over a week, Darryl lived in the car. He had a little food and water with him. He used the car's heater for 15 minutes, two times a day. Darryl waited in his car. On day 9, the snowflakes became very big. This is dangerous because big snowflakes have more moisture. The car was under the snow. Darryl was very worried. He didn't want to die! On day 15, the blizzard stopped, but Darryl was too tired to leave his car. Then he saw a man on a snowmobile. Someone was there to rescue him! Darryl lost five kilos, but he didn't have hypothermia or frostbite. He survived.

CHAPTER 4 The Wind There are often blizzards in the mountains. Why? Because mountains often have two things: snow and wind. Wind in a blizzard is very dangerous. The wind in some strong blizzards goes at more than 72 kilometers an hour. The wind was 140 kilometers an hour in the Great Lakes storm of 1913! The Great Lakes are large bodies of water between the US and Canada. They have many storms. The storm of 1913 made high waves on the lakes. Twelve ships sank. Over 260 people died in this terrible blizzard. Snow doesn't always fall in blizzards. Sometimes snow flies into the air. A strong wind can blow snow up into the air. This is a ground blizzard. Patagonia, in South America, is a place that has many ground blizzards. Near Patagonia, storms start in the ocean. They become very strong and go onto the land. There's a lot of ice and snow in Patagonia. Wind from the ocean storms blows the snow and ice up into the air.