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Blowing snow may not sound like much, but can be incredibly dangerous during certain wintertime conditions. Blowing snow can be either falling snow or snow that has already fallen but strong winds blow it around greatly reducing visibility. Many times the wind simply picks up snow that’s on the ground and blows it around to make for whiteout conditions.

The National Weather Service will issue blowing snow advisories in scenarios where blowing snow is having an impact on visibility, causing dangerous travel conditions. Many times blowing snow will be accompanied by drifting snow (which can create snow drifts).

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Blowing snow can lead to whiteout conditions on the roadways, creating blizzard-like conditions. In 2023 blowing snow in a Lake Tahoe neighborhood causes it to disappear before our eyes.

This proves that it doesn’t even have to be snowing for whiteout conditions to occur.

J​ennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.