In order for us to get socked by a blizzard this spring, the pattern will need to change.
At present, the Polar Jet Stream is too weak and to far north to be a threat. The far more active Subtropical Jet Stream could shift northward and bring snow, but a real blizzard would not be likely from such a set up.
The few near-blizzards we have had this winter have been brief rounds of blowing snow in the open areas of the Red River Valley. And with limited snow cover and very little falling snow, conditions have been marginal at best as blizzards go.
Serious Great Plains blizzards are born along a fast and active Polar Jet Stream. Some ripple in the wind field out over the Pacific Ocean grows into a full-fledged kink in the Jet Stream. As it crosses the Rocky Mountains, the differences within the system widen and the low pressure deepens.
As the system closes into a circle throughout the lower and middle atmosphere, fierce winds and heavy snows develop and woe is he who gets in the way.
