Dangers of Low Visibility and Whiteout Conditions

Taking it slow can help with slick roads, but when there’s whiteout conditions it’s probably best to stay home. 

"Slick I can deal with you know. I have snow tires and 4 wheel drive, so even though you still slide some, that's manageable, but when you can't see what you're doing or driving into that's when the fear factor really sets in,” said Reno resident Bill Scott. 

Whiteout conditions and blizzard warnings are just as much about the wind as it is about the snow. The wind blows around the snow and lowers visibility dramatically. To be classified as a blizzard, it has to be snowing with sustained winds or frequent wind gusts at or above 35 miles per hour, lowering visibility to less than a quarter of a mile for at least three hours. This is why whiteout conditions are so dangerous. It can even be disorienting. 

"A lot of the crashes that we did see this past Saturday into Sunday morning especially on Mt. Rose Highway, zero visibility was a contributing factor to many of those crashes as well as people going too fast,” said Matt McLaughlin from Nevada Highway Patrol. 

When roads are closed and the visibility is less than a quarter mile it is best to just stay home. 

"We had troopers working up there that literally could not see the hood of their vehicle it was so bad,” said McLaughlin. 

It's not only the wind combined with the rain and snow that lowers visibility but it's also the rate at which it's raining and snowing. When it snowing a couple inches an hour, that’s impressive and dangerous too. When it’s snowing this hard it’s hard to see any hazards in front of you, lowering your reaction time. 

"As we've seen this morning we've had spin outs where vehicles have lost control on the snow or the ice and then we had secondary crashes because vehicles are traveling too fast in the low visibility due to fog or rain,” said McLaughlin. 

If you can, the best thing to do during whiteout conditions is to stay home, but if you must make sure to take it slow, pay attention, and use your low beams. High beams will only make it worse.