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.

第一章什么是暴雪？ 冬天的天气可能寒冷、多风、多雪。 有时，雪、风和寒冷同时出现。 这种天气是暴风雪。 暴风雪是一种非常强烈和危险的暴风雪。 雪下了好几个小时。 风速非常非常大，达到每小时56公里甚至更高。 而且温度非常低，远低于0摄氏度。 要有暴风雪，必须有三件事。 首先，必须有冷空气。 其次，冷空气上方必须有暖空气。 第三，空气中必须有大量的水分。 在暴风雪中，大雪会持续数小时，有时甚至持续数天。 1953年，在阿拉斯加的汤普森山口，7天内降雪量达到475厘米。 2011年1月25日，纽约市在两天内降下了48厘米的雪。 该市关闭了所有学校和机场。

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.

拉塞尔·考克斯知道暴风雪是非常危险的。 2004年3月，拉塞尔·考克斯和他的妻子布伦达去新罕布什尔州的怀特山脉散步。 这些山区的天气变化很快。 它可能前一分钟还很好，几分钟后就很糟糕了。 他们走到一座山的山顶附近。 他们在云里。开始下雪了。 起初，雪很小。 当他们到达山顶时，雪下得很大。 拉塞尔和布兰达开始下山。 这很危险。他们走进了暴风雪。 天空非常灰暗。所有的东西都是一样的颜色。 几乎看不见，也走不动。 拉塞尔和布兰达不知道他们在哪里！因为天气很冷，拉塞尔和布兰达开始体温过低。 人体的正常体温约为37摄氏度。 在非常寒冷的天气里，体温会低于正常水平。 那么，一个人就不能思考了。 心跳变慢了。呼吸变得缓慢。 这是体温过低。这是非常危险的。 你可能会因此而死。

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.

当身体很冷的时候，它开始颤抖。 颤抖是让你的身体变暖的一种方式。 拉塞尔和布兰达变得越来越冷。 当时是零下40摄氏度。他们越来越发抖。 他们在暴风雪中呆了36个小时。 但是，布伦达停止了颤抖。 她的体温太低了。 36个小时对她来说太长了，她死了。 第二天早上，人们找到了拉塞尔，把他救了出来。 他活了下来，但由于体温过低，他病得很重。 他脚上有冻疮。 冻伤来自非常寒冷的温度和强风。 它会损害你的身体。你身体的一部分，比如手或脚，会冻死。 医生必须把这部分取下来。 由于冻伤，拉塞尔失去了70%的右脚和30%的左脚。 罗素知道寒冷有多危险。

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.

第三章暴风雪中的雪，冷空气是非常危险的。 人们可能会体温过低和冻伤。 有时他们会死。雪也很危险。 在暴风雪中，雪可以下几个小时或几天。 它可以很高。多少雪算多？ 在美国西北太平洋地区，每年大约有15米的降雪。 它是美国降雪量最多的地方。 雪是美丽、干净、洁白的，但达丽·简知道它也是致命的。 2006年11月，达瑞尔·简（Darryl Jane）开车从俄勒冈州前往华盛顿州。 他想在远离城市的地方安静地过一天。 太阳很明亮，天空很蓝。 没有雪。达瑞尔把车开到更高的山上，开始下雪了。 它变得很重。他离任何城镇都有80公里远。 他开始担心起来。 达瑞尔决定回家。 他想掉头，但车没有开走。 雪太高了。一场可怕的暴风雪近在咫尺。

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.

达瑞尔下车去求助，但周围一个人也没有。 达瑞尔回到他的车里。 他做了正确的事。在暴风雪中，人无法在室外存活太久。 早晨，降雪量超过60厘米。 达里尔在车里住了一个多星期。 他带了一点食物和水。 他使用汽车的加热器15分钟，一天两次。 达瑞尔在车里等着。第九天，雪花变得非常大。 这很危险，因为大的雪花有更多的水分。 汽车在雪下。 达瑞尔非常担心。他不想死！第15天，暴风雪停了，但达里尔太累了，下不了车。 然后他看到一个人在雪地摩托上。 有人在那里救他！达瑞尔瘦了五公斤，但他没有体温过低或冻伤。 他活了下来。

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.

山里经常有暴风雪。 为什么?因为山上经常有两样东西：雪和风。 暴风雪中的风是非常危险的。 一些强暴风雪的风速超过每小时72公里。 在1913年的五大湖风暴中，风速达到每小时140公里！五大湖是美国和加拿大之间的大片水域。 他们有很多暴风雨。1913年的风暴在湖上掀起了巨浪。 12艘船沉没了。超过260人死于这场可怕的暴风雪。 雪并不总是在暴风雪中落下。 有时雪会飞到空中。 强风可以把雪吹到空中。 这是地面暴风雪。 南美洲的巴塔哥尼亚是一个经常发生地面暴风雪的地方。 在巴塔哥尼亚附近，风暴从海洋中开始。 它们变得非常强壮，爬上了陆地。 巴塔哥尼亚有很多冰雪。 来自海洋风暴的风把雪和冰吹到空中。