Whiteout (weather) Whiteout (weather) Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility and contrast are severely reduced by snow or sand. The horizon disappears from view while the sky and landscape appear featureless, leaving no points of visual reference by which to navigate. Whiteout has been defined as: "A condition of diffuse light when no shadows are cast, due to a continuous white cloud layer appearing to merge with the white snow surface. No surface irregularities of the snow are visible, but a dark object may be clearly seen. There is no visible horizon." A whiteout may be due simply to extremely
Weather window than 72 hours can be defined as weather-limited operations. These operations can be planned independently of statistical data and based only on weather forecasts. For weather-limited operations, critical factors such as forces, movements and acceleration shall be calculated in a rather worse weather condition (design criterion) than the weather in which it is planned to perform the operation (operational criterion). This is due to the unreliability of weather forecasts. The longer the planned operation lasts, the greater the difference between the operational criterion and the design criterion. The relationship between the operational criterion and the design criterion is defined as