The northeast is bracing for the blizzard with cancellations, closings and  winter weather alerts. Extreme blizzard conditions where blowing and 
falling snow reduces visibilities to the point where the sky and the ground appear totally white is a whiteout. One of the fiercest blizzards occurring 
in the world is the purga or poorga that rolls across northern Siberia. With below zero temperatures, it includes wind-driven snow that 
causes disorientation.  It also prevents humans from opening their eyes, the inability to breath and freezing to death within a few yards  
of their homes. A buran is a violent snowstorm that occurs in Southern Russia and sections of Siberia. With an injection of warmer air,
a buran fills the air with blinding snow that is much worse than a whiteout. Gavin Pretor-Pinney heads the Cloud Appreciation Society in 
England and is the author of The Cloudspotter's Guide. His travels to Australia last include observing a remarkable, dramatic cloud formation 
called the Morning Glory. The best place in the world to witness the Morning Glory is in the small village of Burketown in Australia's northern 
Queensland. In September and October thousands visit it to see a huge white cloud that rolls like meringue and stretches 600 miles at speeds 
of 35 m.p.h. Burketown lies between the northern wetlands and the southern grasslands of Queensland's Gulf region and the Morning Glory
forms through a unique combination of sea breeze, moisture and high pressure. The locals call them upside-down clouds as it stirs the dust 
followed by dead calm. They also know it's on the way when the beer fridge's glass doors frost up and the corners of the cheap tables bend 
upwards.