Blizzards around here are rare events, and the National Weather Service still is trying to figure out if the weekend storm met the requirements – at least three consecutive hours of 35 m.p.h. winds and quarter-mile visibilities.
Around here, the region hasn't had an official blizzard since Jan. 7, 1996, and that one didn't meet the criteria at Philadelphia International Airport but won the title upon further review.
Elsewhere, however, the blizzard business has been booming around the country in the last two decades, according to a study by Jill Coleman, a meteorology professor at Ball State University, and co-author Robert Schwartz at the University of Akron.
The study found that from 1960-94, annually about nine blizzards were reported in the country, compared with 19 annually since.
The data suggested the blizzard activity has occurred in cycles of active and lull periods, not unlike hurricanes.
Coleman cautioned that the paper does not address whether increases in world temperatures or anything else are behind the surge of the last two decades.
In a warming world, theoretically the atmosphere could hold more water vapor, but Coleman pointed out that while warmer ocean temperatures might make for heavier snows in coastal storms, blizzards are more about wind than precipitation.
As is the case with the upsurge in tornado sightings, Coleman said the numbers might have a lot to do with better reporting and more-sophisticated and ubiquitous measuring devices.
She said one limitation of the study is that it relied on the government's Storm Data records, which aren't perfect.