National Weather Service meteorologists from the Northern Indiana office and elsewhere have used the “B word” when writing about the winter storm that’s forecast for Indiana later this week.

For example, a winter storm watch that the Northern Indiana office issued today includes the phrase, “blizzard conditions possible.”

When I was a kid, depictions of blizzards in movies and TV dramas led me to think of a blizzard as a very bad, very dangerous storm that drops huge amounts of snow.

It wasn’t until much later that I learned that the meteorological definition of “blizzard” has nothing to do with accumulation!

What really defines a blizzard is how strong the wind is and how far you can see through the snow and blowing snow. The National Weather Service website defines “blizzard” as “blowing and/or falling snow with winds of at least 35 mph, reducing visibilities to a quarter of a mile or less for at least three hours.”

This means that if the wind is strong enough and the forward visibility is low enough, you can have blizzard conditions without large accumulations!

Travel in northern Indiana could be extremely dangerous Friday, no matter how much snow falls, because strong wind could cause white-out conditions. Making the situation even more dangerous will be extreme cold, which would be especially bad for anyone who slides off a road and gets stranded in a ditch.

It’s wise, therefore, not to focus too much on accumulation forecasts with this storm. The wind, visibility and cold could be dangerous even in areas where accumulation is relatively light.