Meaning

noun a storm with widespread snowfall accompanied by strong winds

noun a series of unexpected and unpleasant occurrences

originUnknown, with various theories as below. Compare English blizz (“violent rainstorm”), dialectal English bliz (“violent blow”); one etymology, from Midlands English dialect, seems to be ultimately from Old English blysa (“blaze”). Etymology theories * The earliest written use of blizzard as a term to describe a severe snowstorm, spelled blizard, was in the Estherville, Iowa's Northern Vindicator…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0