Photo Credit:  photos11201

the ’snowbelt’ is a zone stretching across the great lakes from minnesota to maine.  this region has historically weathered the most severe and most frequent snow storms.  while the word “blizzard” came from German settlers in iowa (coming from the word blitzartig, or ‘lightning-like’)  the national weather service describes a blizzard as a set of conditions including blowing snow with winds above 35 mph and visibility less than 1/4 of a mile or simply, as large amounts of falling snow.

City snowfall records

Philadelphia, PA	30 inches
Newark, NJ	28 inches
New York, NY	20 inches
Charleston, WV	19 inches
Cincinnati, OH	14 inches