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Information about Whiteout (weather)

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Conditions approaching a blizzard whiteout in Minnesota, on March 1, 2007. Note the unclear horizon near the center.
Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow and diffuse lighting from overcast clouds.

There are three different forms of a whiteout:
  1. In blizzard conditions, the windblown snow in the air may simply make it too difficult to see very far.
  2. In snowfall conditions, the volume of snow falling may simply obscure objects reducing visibility.
  3. In clear air conditions, when there is no snow falling, diffuse lighting from overcast cloud may cause all surface definition to disappear. It becomes impossible to tell how far away the snowy surface is. In polar regions (and in eg the Scottish Hills in winter) this optical illusion can make whole snow-covered mountains invisible against the background white cloud, and the horizon cannot be identified, slopes cannot be judged for steepness, and snow surfaces cannot be seen. This effect is exacerbated by a smooth surface of fresh snow. It is only when a contrasting object is placed on a snowy surface that the surface can be detected. In less extreme cases, it may suffice to break the snow surface by throwing a snowball ahead.


Whiteout conditions pose threats to mountain climbers, skiers, aviation, and mobile ground traffic. Motorists, especially those on large high speed routes are also at risk. There have been many major multiple-vehicle collisions associated with whiteout conditions.

See also

  • Climbing incidents on Mount Hood: all recent incidents have been caused by whiteouts.
weather is the set of all extant phenomena in a given atmosphere at a given time. The term usually refers to the activity of these phenomena over short periods (hours or days), as opposed to the term climate, which refers to the average atmospheric conditions over longer periods of
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SNOW 1.0 and 2.0 are two word-based synchronous stream ciphers developed by Thomas Johansson and Patrik Ekdahl at Lund University.

SNOW 1.0, originally simply SNOW, was submitted to the NESSIE project.
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cloud is a visible mass of condensed droplets, frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body, such as a moon. (Clouds can also occur as masses of material in interstellar space, where they are called interstellar clouds and
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blizzard is a severe winter storm condition characterized by low temperatures, strong winds, and heavy blowing snow. Blizzards are formed when a high pressure system, also known as a ridge, interacts with a low pressure system; this results in the advection of air from the high
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SNOW 1.0 and 2.0 are two word-based synchronous stream ciphers developed by Thomas Johansson and Patrik Ekdahl at Lund University.

SNOW 1.0, originally simply SNOW, was submitted to the NESSIE project.
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Air or Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth.

Air may also refer to:
  • Air (1977 video game), an air combat based mainframe computer game
  • Air (band), a French electronic music duo

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optical illusion is always characterized by visually perceived images that, at least in common sense terms, are deceptive or misleading. Therefore, the information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain to give, on the face of it, a percept that does not tally with a
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mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill, but there is no universally accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill although a mountain usually has an identifiable
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horizon (Ancient Greek ὁ ὁρίζων, /ho horídzôn/, from ὁρίζειν, "to limit") is the line that separates earth from sky.
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A multi-vehicle collision (colloquially known as a pile-up) is a road traffic accident involving many vehicles. Generally occurring on highways, they are one of the deadliest form of traffic accidents.
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Air New Zealand Flight 901
Wreckage of Air New Zealand Flight 901
on the side of Mount Erebus, Antarctica.
Summary
Date  28 November 1979
Cause  Controlled flight into terrain
Site  Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica
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Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano on Earth. 3,794 metres (12448 ft) high, it is located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes, notably Mt. Terror.
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