To be honest, I was getting a little worried…a tiny little drizzle fell over Great Falls in the late hours of Friday evening, falling just shy of actual rain. Temps hovered in the 30s. What if the forecasts were wrong? But fear not: at around 12:30 am, the snow turned into rain, and the wind began to pick up considerably. Within about 30 minutes, a thin layer of snow covered most of the grass and car tops; the temps dropped into the 20s, and the wind is really moving – maybe 20 or 25 mph right now.
And check this out: over at KRTV, there’s a “share your weather pix” box on the front page. You have to register with the site (using the service called KickApps), but it will let you upload pictures, create a blog, etc – it’s pretty cool. It’s a new service that KRTV (and other MT affiliates) are rolling out, so if you register now, you’ll be able to use it for lots of stuff in the future. If you upload any weather pix from this storm, be sure to add at least one of the following tags: storm, snow, and/or winter. And if you need help, just let me know.
And with a blizzard warning in NE Montana, I wondered: what’s the difference between a blizzard and a snow storm? According to Wikipedia:
In the United States, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as sustained 35 mph winds which lead to blowing snow and cause visibilities of ΒΌ mile or less, lasting for at least 3 hours. Temperature is not taken into consideration when issuing a blizzard warning, but the nature of these storms is such that cold air is often present when the other criteria are met.
Hm. Didn’t realize that there was such specific criteria.
There had damn well better be specific criteria for blizzards, or else this Southerner would call every snowfall in Montana a blizzard, lmao!
Ha! Good point, Chuck! Hey – when are you gonna start blogging again?
Well, David, you got your wish.
Damn, did you ever!
I know it must be bad there because it snowed here in Tacoma!