Winter Storms facts
While investigating facts about Winter Storms 2019 and Winter Storms This Week, I found out little known, but curios details like:
PornHub offered to Plow New Jersey and Boston streets for free during winter storm Stella.
how winter storms form?
Winter Storms Are Not Named by the National Weather Service (There's No Official Naming System)- Instead The Weather Channel Does, After Their Marketing Department Saw An Opportunity in Late 2011
What different types of winter storms are there?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what causes winter storms. Here are 19 of the best facts about Winter Storms 2018 and Winter Storms 2020 I managed to collect.
what are winter storms?
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Some members of the Donner party survived after their campfire fell through 25 feet of snow and landed on the ground, creating a cave-like area for them to shelter from an incoming winter storm.
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Winter Storms in the United States are named solely by the Weather Channel and not recognized by other agencies including the National Weather Service.
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The portrayal of the Bolshevik seizure of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in the 1928 film "October: Ten Days That Shook the World" caused more damage to Winter Palace than the actual Bolshevik storming of the Palace in the 1917 October Revolution.
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In 1913 Cornelis Lely became the Minister of Transport and Public Works. He continued to meet with concerns until 1916. A winter storm that year brought more flooding.
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About the Cleveland Superbomb, one of the worst winter storms ever to hit the US Midwest. More like a hurricane than a snowstorm, the Superbomb of ‘78 dumped 30-90cm (1-3 ft) and had winds gusting to 160kmh (100mph) that created drifts up to 8m (25ft). Around 70 deaths were blamed on the storm.
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Snow falls on Laptev Sea even in the summer months. In the winter it is commonly subjected to blizzards and snow storms.
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2009 Australian dust storm - where the eastern part of Australia was coated in red dust. The phenomenon was compared to the surface of Mars, the Apocalypse, and Nuclear Winter. There were no fatalities or property damage reported.
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The Weather Channel started naming winter storms as a way of advertising.
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In the 1990s George R.R. Martin's most famous series A Song of Ice and Fire was published. This included the 1996 novel A Game of Thrones, the 1998 novel A Clash of Kings, and the 2000 novel A Storm of Swords. The series continued with A Feast for Crows (2005), A Dance with Dragons (2011), The Princess and the Queen (2013), The Rogue Prince (2014), and the announced titles The Winds of Winter, and A Dream of Spring.
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The only organization that names winter storms is the Weather Channel, having started in 2011 in what's been broadly criticized as a ratings ploy. NOAA and NWS disagree with the practice and have policies to not use the names.
Winter Storms data charts
For your convenience take a look at Winter Storms figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.
Why do they name winter storms?
You can easily fact check why name winter storms by examining the linked well-known sources.
The blizzard of 1949, a massive winter storm that caused 30 foot snow drifts, 60 mph winds, and -40 degree temperatures.
Illinois has some of the most varied weather in the country. They experience intense heat and cold waves, catastrophic and deadly tornadoes and major winter storms and blizzards.
Waves on the Caspian Sea can reach 32 feet in height during winter storms. It has a maximum depth of 3,360 feet. - source
The inspiration for Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concerto (dated ~1700) were flowing creeks, singing birds, barking dogs, buzzing mosquitoes, crying shepherds, storms, drunken dancers, silent nights, hunting parties, frozen landscapes, ice-skating children, and warming winter fires.
A picture of a giant robot helping Russia revolutionaries storm the winter palace in 1917, was accidentally used in an Australian history exam. Some students wasted time in trying to figure out what the giant robot was, thinking it was a statue of a Russian politician or a battleship. - source
When did they start naming winter storms?
Leland Stanford, the eighth governor of California and founder of Stanford University, had to be rowed in a boat to his gubernatorial inauguration due to large winter storm floods.
How winter storms are named?
The Science Behind Naming Winter Storms at The Weather Channel
