Bowen, Malachi
Malachi
Bowen
Presentation: 2026 ND EPSCoR Annual conference
October 20, 2026, Minot, North Dakota
Observations of the Atmospheric Electric Field during Blizzards
Malachi
Bowen
Master's Student
University of North Dakota
Dr. Daile Zhang, Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota; Dr. Aaron Kennedy, Associate Professor, University of North Dakota; Dr. Vanna Chmielewski, Supervisory Research Physical Scientist, National Severe Storms Laboratory ; Shawn Wagner, Research Scientist, University of North Dakota
Session
Concurrent Presentation Session A, Exhibition Room
Blizzards are a winter hazard characterized by high winds and visibility below ¼ mile due to falling and/or blowing snow. The reduction in visibility creates extremely hazardous travel conditions and significantly impacts local economies due to extended road closures. Along with the aforementioned impacts, the electrification of blown snow particles has also been found to disrupt radio communications. While the electrification of blizzards has been widely studied in the Arctic and Antarctic, observations in the CONUS have been limited to the mid-1990s. Three blizzards were sampled in Grand Forks, North Dakota during the 2025-2026 winter using an ensemble of instruments, including an electric field mill, ceilometer, weather balloon launches, and the Open Snowflake Camera for Research and Education (OSCRE). Results show that the electric field (E-field) peaks during periods of blowing snow, despite reduced particle size and number concentration, likely due to the smallest, charge-carrying particles being below OSCRE’s pixel resolution. During a period of both falling and blowing snow, the E-field was strongly correlated (R-squared of 0.8) with wind speed above a threshold of 6 m/s and trends in E-field closely followed visibility. The E-field is predominantly of negative polarity and exceeds 10 kV/m. The evolution of the E-field, snow particle size, number concentration, depth of blowing snow layer, and other meteorological variables during the sampled blizzards will be explored.
