Eli5: If storms need warm air/ to form, how do blizzards form?
In: 5
It’s pretty simple: the cold air that drives winter storms is *even colder* than the “warm” air it encounters.
The poles are huge air-cooling machines during winter because they’re dark. There’s a big area of no sunlight all through fall and winter (biggest in December or July) which means no heat from sunlight. That sucks warmth out of the atmosphere, especially the low levels near the surface. Air sinks and builds up and eventually big blobs spin off away from the poles, moving along the surface. This stuff is really cold, mind-numbingly cold, as it crosses places like Canada, Siberia, and Northern Europe.
It runs into air masses that are only normally cold, which makes them “warm” (in comparison). The warmer sector of a winter storm can still be pretty cold, it’s just not wtf-cold.
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