Talk:Blizzard

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Picture[edit]

The picture has moved to its own page, but I don't see in the history where it happened. Was this intentional to save loading time? If so, the link ought to say "click here for a blizzard scene". Or was it accidental? In which case it should be restored. I haven't ever "done" a picture, so I'm reluctant to experiment here. Ortolan88 — Preceding undated comment added 15:04, 9 August 2002 (UTC)[reply]

Definition[edit]

The German Wikipedia suggests that the word "Blizzard" may be derived from German "blitzartig" (=(fast) like lightning). A Google-search lead to contradictory results, so I didn't add it to the article. Does someone know more about this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.82.83.153 (talk) 14:52, 15 September 2004 (UTC)[reply]

I am mailing the question to Merriam-Webster's language research service. I'll keep you updated. Munchkinguy 19:45, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
According to Merriam-Webster, the word Blizzard was invented in northwestern Iowa between 1860 and 1870. The origin is unknown. Munchkinguy 00:03, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Pending the outcome of Munchkinguy's research, I have trimmed the text relating to the origin of the word, and added a link to a relevant entry in an online etymology dictionary. Good luck. - mjb 17:43, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Superstorm of 1983[edit]

The graph made me very interested in the damaging "superstorm of 1983"- but Wikipedia doens't have an article on it... is the year correct or does there just happen to be no article? -samaraphile — Preceding undated comment added 18:03, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Blizzard of 2003[edit]

Could we get a mention of the Blizzard of 2003? That was impressive and caused some damage as well. (store roof collapses, DIA terminal roof collapse, travelers on cots in DIA, etc.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.53.25.184 (talk) 02:00, 17 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Non-US blizzards[edit]

I'd like to see an article for a non-US blizzard. The UK was virtually brought to a standstill with the one in January 2003, and there was very heavy snow in Scotland in December 1995, the coldest December since 1981. BillyH 06:40, 23 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, every one of the twelve major blizzards mentioned in this article has taken place at least partly in the US - the article should be more international in scope. Ygoloxelfer 17:23, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This article got kinda screwed up after vandalism[edit]

You'll notice that the article looked like this:

october 5th 05

Then someone vandalized it and took some stuff out during their vandalization including the bottom half of the article. When the article was devandalized the bottom half was never returned. While I admit that the bottom half of the article wasn't the greatest, it was written by a student of mine (5th grade) and am sad to see it go.

It may be nice to ad one of those fancy tables that includes famous america blizzards (or it's own page) with damages, feet of snow, date, etc — Preceding unsigned comment added by Allthewhile (talk • contribs) 19:56, 18 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism[edit]

Please watch this page for vandalism and revert any negative changes — Preceding unsigned comment added by Theonlysilentbob (talk • contribs) 07:56, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"A Blizzard can also be a strong wind current with blowing or falling snow."
I assume this referes to the general action of blowing and drifting snow, if so this has been mentioned here [[[1]]] — Preceding unsigned comment added by Theonlysilentbob (talk • contribs) 08:00, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Graph[edit]

First time in a discussion, so be gentle...But, the bar graph in this article showing cost of Blizzards in history is possibly misleading, as it does not seem to be adjusted for inflation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.131.62.196 (talk) 20:30, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Armistice Day Blizzard[edit]

Why write about a North Dakota storm that killed 37 people, but not a Minnesota storm in which 49 people were killed, many of them hunters with light clothes on. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.103.17.163 (talk) 00:31, 9 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

chart problem?[edit]

The chart says that the storm of the century took place in 1950, while the text says that it took place in 1993.

also, just wondering about the (willy) at the end of the article — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.22.191.150 (talk) 18:52, 26 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the Willy. I like the graph, but I'm removing it until someone can redo it with the correct year of 1993. Gopher backer 02:55, 27 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Blizzard Pictures[edit]

The photos on the blizzard page are little old and outdated. The image of the train and buffalo blizzard certainly show the effect of snow drifts but does nothing to actually visually demonstrate a blizzard as it is occurring. I suggest some more descriptive and representative images be used. I recently posted a photo of a lake effect blizzard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.113.185.52 (talk) 02:23, 25 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Image:Lake_effect_blizzard.jpg

Ground Blizzard


The picture currently included cannot be of a blizzard by common definitions. There is only a few inches of snow that apparently fell straight down (indicating little wind), since the cars have snow on both sides with no apparent drifting. 75.89.219.249 (talk) 18:29, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Someone erased some of the headings[edit]

Hey, I'm doing a research project on blizzards, and I was on this page like 10 minutes ago, and now a whole section was erased, I believe by vandals.

Definition

[edit] Canada

[edit] United Kingdom

There was definitions under those I think :/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by Torxter (talk • contribs) 13:32, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ok I tried to fix it by going into the history... sorry I'm bad at formatting — Preceding unsigned comment added by Torxter (talk • contribs) 13:40, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Unfortunatlely this page is a vandal magnet for some reason. Gopher backer 14:44, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

headings[edit]

Someone seems to have changed all the links on this page to Special:Random. I dont know how to change it back but it appears to be done yesterday by Omiller. BotLobsta 15:38, 27 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Canadian definition[edit]

So, what do they call a snowstorm with near-zero visibility that lasts four hours but has a windchill of "only" -20C? 86.143.48.55 (talk) 01:28, 29 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

what about the company Blizzard I think we should link off to that.--JLAC (talk) 23:39, 5 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-Protect[edit]

I would suggest that this article should be semi-protected due to excessive vandalism. -- IRP (talk) 00:52, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology[edit]

A fact tag has been added to the etymology section. After doing some research I have found some sources that talk about the origins.

They are not consistent on the etymology of the word and none of them completely corroborate the information that is in the article. A new name 2008 (talk) 19:49, 4 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The word blizzard orignated in the town of Spencer, IA —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.26.194.173 (talk) 17:40, 2 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Blizzard = blitzartig. I saw it in a documentation on fox. Greez —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.166.60.81 (talk) 23:36, 7 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

HAHA! FOX has been known to get its information from Wikipedia... often as the ONLY source. I don't think we can cite FOX who, for all we know, cited this very article!--Billy Nair (talk) 18:23, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I found a very good discussion on the etymology of blizzard. As for it's origin it my never be know with certainty. Seeing as I am a 30 year resident of Spencer Iowa I can attest that it has in no way originated here.

As for the word being used specifically to refer to a snow storm, Estherville Iowa's Northern Vindicator is more likely an origin, at least in print.

There are many printed uses of the word prior to the popularized Iowan term circa 1870.

  • Blast with a firearm or cannon (whether one or multiple bullets or pellets uncertain): 1834, 1834, 1836, 1846, 1846, 1862
  • Verbal blast: 1835, 1848, 1851, 1860, 1861, 1863, 1865, 1868
  • Blast with a firearm or cannon (single ball or bullet): 1835, 1857, 1863
  • Blazing fire: 1843
  • Heavy or painful physical blow (not involving a firearm): 1849, 1856, 1860, 1861, 1866, 1870, 1870
  • Literal or figurative attack: 1851, 1866, 1867
  • Exclamation (like “the blazes” or “blue blazes”): 1853, 1857
  • Blast with multiple firearms or with a firearm loaded with multiple pellets): 1860, 1863, 1863
  • Shot of liquor: 1870

"Stories using the word appeared in newspapers located in California, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia."

Citations:

  • From Davy Crockett's Almanack for '35 (1834):
  • From Meine & Owens, Crockett Alm[anack]s (1835):
  • From Crockett, An Account of Col. Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-four, tenth edition (1837):
  • From Joseph Jones, Major Jones’s Scenes from Georgia (1843)
  • From “The Bombardment of Fort Brown (May 13, 1846), credited to the New Orleans Picayune, in the [Baltimore, Maryland] American Republican and Baltimore Daily Clipper (May 30, 1846):
  • From “From the Camp,” dated September 4, 1846, in the [Brattleboro] Vermont Phœnix (October 15, 1846):
  • From “Treason to Party, Treason to Country,” in the [Fayette, Missouri] Boon’s Lick Times (September 30, 1848):
  • From “Diabolical Outrage,” in the [New Lisbon, Ohio] Anti-slavery Bugle (August 1849):
  • From “Whig Candidate for Floater! To Your Tents, Oh! Israel!” in the Fayetteville [Tennessee] Observer (July 29, 1851):
  • From George Harris, “A Sleep-Walking Incident,” in Polly Peablossom’s Wedding an Other Tales (1851):
  • From “A Pocket Book Found,” in the [Morgantown, Virginia] Monongalia Mirror (November 5, 1853):
  • From the Sacramento [California] City Item [1856, but no specific date given], reported in Richard Thornton, An American Glossary (1912):
  • From the [St. Clairsville, Ohio] Belmont Chronicle (July 23, 1857):
  • From “[That Pistol]” in the Bedford [Pennsylvania] Gazette (November 20, 1857):
  • From “Coming to the Rescue,” in the White Cloud Kansas Chief (May 10, 1860):
  • From “End for End,” in the White Cloud Kansas Chief (June 28, 1860):
  • From “Life in Egypt,” in the [Millersburg, Ohio] Holmes County Republican (November 15, 1860), from a story that originally appeared in the New York Tribune:
  • From “Night Session,” October 16, 1861, in Proceedings of the Missouri State Convention, Held at the City of St. Louis, October, 1861 (1861):
  • From the [Ebensburg, Pennsylvania] Alleghanian (October 24, 1861):
  • From “The Great Battle in Kentucky” in the [Dowagiac, Michigan] Cass County Republican (February 1, 1862):
  • From “Great Battle of Stones’ River, Tennessee,” in the Nashville [Tennessee] Daily Union (January 15, 1863):
  • From “Letter From Vicksburg” in the Memphis [Tennessee] Daily Appeal (March 24, 1863):
  • From “Slightly Curious” in the White Cloud Kansas Chief (July 30, 1863):
  • From Rosecrans’ Campaign with the Fourteenth Army Corps, or the Army of the Cumberland (1863):
  • From “Forty Rounds and a Blizzard,” in the [Plymouth, Indiana] Marshall County Republican (October 12, 1865):
  • From “Too Much Whisky Aboard,” in the Wheeling [West Virginia] Intelligencer (October 10, 1866):
  • From “Coop That Chicken” in the Wheeling [West Virginia] Intelligencer (November 5, 1866):
  • From Rebecca Davis, “Waiting for the Verdict” in The Galaxy (July 1867):
  • From “Radicalism Responsible for all the Evils that Curse the Land,” in the [Alexandria] Louisiana Democrat (July 22, 1868):
  • From the Winchester [Indiana] Journal (June 9, 1870):
  • From the [Troy, Missouri] Lincoln County Herald (July 28, 1870):
  • From the [Clearfield, Pennsylvania] Raftsman’s Journal (September 21, 1870):

See the discussion for any additional citations. http://english.stackexchange.com/questions:: Reubends 9:15, 17 Feb 2015 (UTC)

blizzard / snowstorm[edit]

What is the difference between blizzard and snowstorm? You have separate articles at least.--SM (talk) 05:59, 21 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your question exposed a fundamental problem with the lead section of this article, which has been rectified. Snowstorm has also been wikilinked, so users can compare the two different types of snowstorms. Thegreatdr (talk) 13:42, 22 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

blizzards are cold.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.185.15.100 (talk) 16:35, 16 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Historic" Blizzards?[edit]

"Historic" Blizzards or just "Blizzards" of the past? "Previous blizzards"? Historic implies some significance. "Previous blizzards" seems redundant but is perhaps a better heading. —Monado (talk) 18:12, 1 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

According to this web page, the number of blizzards increased dramatically in the 2000s. I doubt this is really true. It is more likely the result of more attention given to blizzards and the fact that they are now sometimes named. I think someone should look into the magnitude of all these blizzards to see whether some are overhyped. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.142.113.201 (talk) 01:49, 23 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Where rain fall is unusual or rare?[edit]

The 1st sentence of the 2nd paragraph reads as follows: "Blizzards can bring near-whiteout conditions, and can paralyze regions for days at a time, particularly where rainfall is unusual or rare."

Shouldn't it be where snow fall is unusual or rare, or is it a largely unknown fact that deserts have more severe blizzards than other areas? 173.28.244.122 (talk) 03:12, 2 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sources for globalizing article[edit]

Per a request on my talk page, here are some sources for globalizing the article, which currently reads like Blizzards in North America with a mention of the 1972 Iran blizzard. Realistically, there are some regions of the world that just won't experience blizzards, but we can do better.

There are also internal sources which may be of help, such as Climate of Australia#Blizzards (currently unsourced, though the sixth ref above could work there). Check what links to the article for more ideas. Did you know that the Great Blizzard of 1899 hit Florida? That doesn't actually globalize the article, but still.

It's not very hard to find more sources. Just google "blizzards in" and the place you want. It may be helpful to add -entertainment to filter out hits for Blizzard Entertainment worldwide. --BDD (talk) 18:06, 12 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Believe it or not but I know how to google for information and have done it repeatedly for this article. I appreciate you concern, however I believe that you really do need to read the article to understand that a blizzard does not mean a whole bunch of snow. It has a very specific definition that must be met. I looked at your sources and found nothing of use. Just because Europe is having very cold weather and blizzards and Lady Gaga was stranded are no help at all. You mention the blizzard of 1899 saying it extended to FL, which you admit doesn't globalize the article and which, as I'm sure you must be aware, has its own article? I've done my best to globalize the article. I even went to all the other WP blizzard articles to look for information. I get very irritated with editors that paste globalize tags on articles that are impossible to fulfill. I'm going to remove the tag. If you can find any information from the sources that you have provided, please have at it because I can't find anything usable. Gandydancer (talk) 21:43, 12 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I don't follow, then. If you're not looking for coverage of blizzards outside of North America in reliable sources, what exactly are you looking for? If your idea of globalizing the article is citing a definition from an Australian government agency and mentioning the Iran blizzard... well, I think you can do better than that. I'd restore the tag, but I don't to war here. If you think the article has a sufficiently global scope, why does it still deal almost exclusively with North America? This isn't NAFTA—why do you think the current treatment is appropriate? --BDD (talk) 21:56, 12 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I would just love to have more global information. I have looked for RS, or even less than perfect sources. As I said, I even looked at all of the other articles. I have something from Canada that I'm going to add as time permits, though its nothing new but rather a personal remembering of a past storm. I'm going to do more with the Iran blizzard as well, though it is only info from the existing source. But I just have not been able to find anything. Since you seem to think that I should be able to, please point out something to me that is actually usable rather that post a list and then criticize and complain that I should be able to find something in it. Gandydancer (talk) 00:28, 14 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I mean, is it unreasonable to list non-North American blizzards too? Wouldn't some mention be better than none? Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here. I still don't get it. Do you need book sources or something? What's wrong with what I've listed above? --BDD (talk) 00:44, 14 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
If you see something from above please write it up or point it out and I will. The only possibility I see is the 2005 Algerian storm. Gandydancer (talk) 01:08, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
You've made some good edits here. I wouldn't tag it at this point anyway. I'm sorry we had this little spat. --BDD (talk) 03:30, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm sorry too. You have been helpful in that I'm finding quite a bit right here. As time permits I will use the info that I'm finding to write a short summary. Thanks for the help. Gandydancer (talk) 03:37, 16 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

1940 Valentine's Day Blizzard?[edit]

Notable enough to create 1940 Valentine's Day Blizzard? Boston Globe photos -- Beland (talk) 05:42, 22 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Great photos! Thanks. Gandydancer (talk) 13:49, 17 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Blizzard or snowstorm[edit]

Is blizzard and snowstorm a synonym or antonym? 2603:6011:8A00:39BB:A0C4:54F7:F5AB:4AF3 (talk) 00:43, 14 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 31 January 2022[edit]

Great Plains Blizzard of 1887. January 9–11, 1887. Reported 72-hour blizzard that covered parts of the Great Plains in more than 16 inches (41 cm) of snow. Winds whipped and temperatures dropped to around 50 °F (10 °C) The Smithsonian article referenced quotes 50 below 0 F which would be -45.6 C Tbbnbb (talk) 21:53, 31 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. PianoDan (talk) 18:59, 1 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Blizzard of 1978 Ohio[edit]

Should add this one as it was a historical event. 75.137.106.45 (talk) 17:40, 5 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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