The Next Disaster: Blizzards

It’s a kind of nasty weather we don’t usually get in June: blizzards. Meteorologists are pretty good at forecasting heavy snowfalls… except when they’re not.

FOX News Radio’s Hank Weinbloom explains in our series “The Next Disaster”:

Take a heavy snowfall, add a strong prolonged wind and you’ve got yourself a blizzard.

(Local Officials) “At least near three feet that we can confirm.//It’s as high as two feet.//Blizzard-like conditions, zero visibility and blowing snow.//This is actually the worst blizzard that I’ve actually experienced.”

 Much of the time the blizzard forecasts are spot-on accurate. But sometimes, the predictions are wrong, like this past March…

(Meteorologist) “DC could get five to eight inches of snow…” 

They nicknamed that Washington DC snowstorm the ‘snowquester’ because it shut the government down.

(Mayor Vincent Gray)”We obviously closed the government. The federal government is closed.”

But the ‘snowquester’ turned out to be nothing more than some light rain and a breeze.

(Gregory) “Yeah, so that definitely was a bust.”

Meteorologist Nick Gregory with FOX’ s New York station WNYW.

A bust, or blown forecast, happens because of many factors, including the temperature in the atmosphere. Warmer air — and the snow will turn to rain or sleet, colder — and up goes the accumulation total. And out come the snow shovels.

Hank Weinbloom, FOX News Radio.

CLICK HERE for more in our series “The Next Disaster”.

CLICK HERE for the FOX News Radio special “The Next Disaster”.