Please take a moment to review these standard units of measurement for winter precipitation in the South with your family before submitting reports to neighbors, relatives, and friends. Expert advice for each situation is listed.
Snowing:
- 1 to 15 snow flurries per hour
- Temperatures hovering around 32-33 degrees
- Call your local television station. Things just got serious.
Snowing Hard:
- 50-100 snowflakes per hour
- Sticks to grass for a maximum duration of thirty seconds
- Take no less than twenty photos and one video for Instagram. Demand that local schools close early.
Blizzard:
- A dusting/up to one inch of accumulation
- Bigger snowflakes, but still able to be individually counted with reasonable ease
- Stay home. Your off-road, heavy-duty, four-wheel-drive pickup truck is useless.
Whiteout/Apocalypse:
- Accumulation in excess of one inch
- Snowflakes too numerous to count
- Call Northern relatives for survival advice, if your phone still works.
Sleeting:
- 1 to 15 ice pellets per hour
- Sound against windows resembles bacon frying in small skillet
- Put glass outside to collect ice. Sonic will be closed soon.
Heavy Sleet:
- Melted residue on car windshield (see also: cold water)
- Sound against windows interferes with normal conversation
- Advise your family that it could be worse. It could be freezing rain.
Freezing Rain:
- Shiny glaze on all elevated objects
- Power outages, broken tree limbs, all brick-and-mortar establishments closed
- Give up and set yourself on fire for warmth—you’re in this one for the long haul.