Why was the "temperature" taken out of blizzard warnings, leaving only wind and snow? The current official definition of "blizzard" from the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) is "sustained wind or frequent gusts greater than or equal to 35 mph, accompanied by falling and/or blowing snow, frequently reducing visibility to less than % mile for three hours or more." Tom Filiaggi of the NWS looked back as far as 1992 and found the same criteria accompanied by the following note: "Although there is no set temperature requirement for blizzard conditions, the life-threatening nature of the low temperatures in combination with the other hazardous conditions of wind, snow, and poor visibility increases dramatically when the temperature falls below 20°F." Thus, at least 18 years ago, there was no temperature criterion associated with blizzards.
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