I got caught in the middle of that. I was in Appleton Wisconsin December 6-10, about 40 miles from Green Bay. Blizzard Allison came through and I believe it was close to zero degrees at one time.
According to the National Weather Service, a blizzard (or winter hurricane) must have sustained winds in excess of 35 mph, 2” accumulations of snow per hour, visibility of less than 500 feet, a wind chill less than −15 Fahrenheit and all of these four conditions must last for 3 hours or more.
Blizzard names are unofficial, unlike hurricane names. Blizzard Allison was Appleton's third largest since 1890. 14 inches of snow fell during a 24 hour period.
When we finally were able to leave Thursday it kept getting warmer:
It was 7 degrees F when we left Appleton @ 6:30 am
It was 21 degrees F when we left Detroit @ 11:30 am
It was 57 degrees F when we left Hotlanta (Atlanta) @ 1:30 pm
That was the third time I have seen snow in the past 15 years. I was in San Angelo several years ago visiting my brother and we got 3-4 inches. We had a freak snow storm come through Savannah in MAY 1996. (yes May) It snowed about 2 inches then. My 3 year old daughter quickly grasped the idea of packing the white "stuff" in a ball and smacking daddy up side the head and not getting in trouble. Her mom was yelling at me to get her in the house cause she was going to get sick. I said who cares, shes never going to see snow in Savannah ever again. The previous snow storm in Savannah came through (before my time) in 1989. Being on the coast that far down south pretty much kills all winter sporting activities on the coast.
I hope I never see snow like that again...
