Facts About Snow

What is Snow?  When water freezes inside clouds, ice crystals form.  Ice crystals are crystals that have formed around tiny bits of dirt that have been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind.  The ice crystals join together creating snow flakes.  Once the flakes are heavy enough they fall to the ground as snow.  Each snowflake is made up from 2 to about 200 separate crystals.  In addition to a normal snow fall, snow can drift to the ground lightly as flurries, fall heavily as a snowstorm, or pile up quickly by being blown by strong winds in a blizzard.  For it to snow, the tops of the clouds must be below 0 degrees Celsius, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit but it  can get cold enough than it doesn't snow.  And if there are not enough water droplets in the air it can't snow.  Snow can come from any cloud that is layered.

What Color is Snow?  Snow is actually clear/transparent.  Snow appears white becasue the crystals act as prisms, breaking up the light of the sun into the entire spectrum of color.  Therefore, we see the snow as white or sometimes blue.  The color of snow can depend on the environment in which you live.  If you live in a place where the soil is red, snow is pink. 

 How big is a snowflake?  Most snowflakes asre less than 1/2 inch across.  Snowflakes start as ice crystals taht the size of a speck of dust.  When the crystals fall they join up with other crystals to form a snowflake.  All snowflakes have six sides and no two snowflakes are alike. 

How Many Snowflake Shapes are There?  Scientists think that there are five different basic shapes. of snow crystals.  A long needle shape, hollow column shaped like  a six-sided prism, thin and flat six-sided plaes, six-pointed stars, and intricate dendrites. 

What Makes the Different Shapes?  The shape that a snow crystal takes depends on the temperature at which it was formed.  When the temperatuer is around 32-25 degrees F thin six-sides plates are formed.  At 25-21 degrees F long needle shapes are formed.  At 21-14 degrees F hollow columns are formed.  At 10-3 degrees F dendrites are formed.  The colder it is outside, the smaller the snowflakes taht fall.  The fluffiest snow falls at temperatrues around 15 degrees F.