One of the plains' strangest and most treacherous winter tricks is the ground blizzard — a blinding storm of blowing snow that arrives under a perfectly clear sky, without a single new flake falling. It happens when a hard wind gets hold of dry, loose snow already on the ground and lifts it into the air, hurling it across the open country in a stinging white cloud.

Snow That Falls Sideways from Below

The danger lies precisely in the deception. Overhead the sun may shine and the sky may be a flawless blue, while at road level the visibility drops to nothing and drivers find themselves suddenly blind. The treeless, wind-swept plains are ideal ground blizzard country, with little to stop the wind from raising the snow and driving it for miles.

From the almanac's reckoning:

• A ground blizzard blows fallen snow with no new snowfall.
• It can occur under a clear, sunny sky while blinding drivers below.
• The treeless plains are ideal ground-blizzard country.

Highway travelers learn to distrust a fair sky in a hard winter wind, and to watch the ditches and fence lines where the blowing snow gathers first. The almanac counts the ground blizzard among the plains' most deceptive hazards — a storm that falls not from the clouds but from the ground itself.