Severe Winter Weather - Storms, Freezes, and Floods

Don't Let Winter Weather Lows Get You Down

Severe winter weather provides much interest for the home weather station owner when the weather closes in. And it's probably too cold and miserable to be doing much else.

Extreme Winter Weather may not have the spectacular TV news value of hurricanes, tornadoes and lightning, but it provides its own hazards to life and property.

And as you'd expect with weather, events which are most common in the depths of winter extend either side of it, and some of them can occur at any time of year. But even with weather, we have to try to draw a line somewhere. So this section will concentrate on the colder months, while weather more typical of summer can be found in the Severe Weather pages

Notable examples of extreme winter weather include;

Winter Storms. Winter storms cover a multitude of severe weather conditions, resulting in transport problems due to heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions, subsequent disruptions due to flooding as the snow melts, and in mountainous areas, the likelihood of avalanches and mudslides. The combination of low temperatures and high winds, with its wind chill effect, also increases risks to any outdoor activities, voluntary or otherwise.
Examples of winter storms include the Alberta Clippers, Colorado Lows and Nor'easters of North America, but different interactions between topography and air masses will produce different styles of storms.
Ice Storms and Freezing Rain Freezing rain, transforming to an ice storm if prolonged, can have significant economic effects, which, in the worst cases, can become life threatening. Power disruption due to breakage of transmission lines caused by the weight of ice, crop loss in the southern USA, or vehicle damage due collisions on icy roads can result.
Fog is fairly low in the scale of severe weather events but, although not as obviously dangerous, still presents its own set of challenges, particularly to transport.
Floods Floods can result from many causes. Flash Floods, which typically follow heavy downpours such as thunderstorms, are the subject of another article.
Longer lasting floods which affect whole river systems occur year round, but winter, or shortly afterwards, is prime time for some form of flooding.

Like to Know More?

Information on the more hazardous features of summer weather can be found on the Severe Weather page.

Reviews and discussion about currently available Weather Stations can be found on the Home Weather Stations page, and there is also a page to help you set up your weather station. Back to the Top, or return to the Home page.

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