What are snow squalls?

AccuWeather expert Joe Lundberg explains what a snow squall is and how it differs from a typical snowstorm.

Transcript

00:00 Snow squalls are basically the wintertime equivalent of a summertime thunderstorm.

00:04 Snow squalls are quick-hitting and often dangerous wintertime phenomenon.

00:09 Basically intense band of precipitation, obviously in the form of snow.

00:13 You can get thunder and lightning in these things.

00:15 These bands of heavy snowfall differ in size from a typical snowstorm.

00:19 Snow squalls are much more regional. In fact, they're very small scale features.

00:24 The width of these things may be just a couple of miles.

00:27 Maybe some of the bigger ones might be 10 to 15 miles across, but they're very narrow bands.

00:32 Snow squalls can develop suddenly and move as quickly as thunderstorms.

00:36 You may be driving and you see partly sunny skies or maybe just cloudy.

00:40 You get a couple of snow flurries and all of a sudden the visibility drops.

00:43 And that's when you're entering the snow squall.

00:45 And that's probably the biggest danger of these things is the very poor visibility that's associated with them.

00:50 Snow squalls are short-lived events lasting maybe 15 to 30 minutes in a given area.

00:55 That's enough time that it can lay down a carpet of snow.

00:58 In fact, it can cover the road to the point where all of a sudden you go from dry pavement

01:03 to enough snow that you're going sideways if you're going too fast.

01:07 Snow squalls can happen just about anywhere in the northern half of the U.S.,

01:11 but are more common near the Great Lakes.

01:13 Particularly associated with Arctic air masses that are coming in from the north and west.

01:17 Usually you get these northwest flow events where the cold air is coming over the relatively warm and open lakes,

01:23 particularly in late fall and early winter.

01:26 Keep yourself safe when snow squalls develop by having the AccuWeather app alert you to threatening winter weather.

01:31 For AccuWeather, I'm meteorologist Tony Laubach.

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