What causes winter storms?

Winter storms develop when low pressure systems come into contact with a cold front or a warm front, which causes low temperature precipitation such as snow and freezing rain. Common types of winter storms caused by low pressure systems include snow storms, ice storms and blizzards.

The conditions for low temperature precipitation are most common in the winter months and may also occur during spring and autumn. Very rarely, winter storm conditions can occur in summer months, such as the "Year Without a Summer," that caused agricultural disaster all over the Northeast United States, Great Britain, Ireland and China in 1918.