Some Snow Facts

Alexandra Park the day before it really snowed. That white bit in front is the frozen reservoir.

• The tops of clouds must be below 0 degrees Celsius/32 degrees Farenheit for snow. 
• Snow can come from any cloud that is layered.

 

• Technically, snow is a mineral, like iron and salt.
• Snow appears white because its crystals act as prisms, breaking up the light of the sun into the entire spectrum of color.  It is actually transparent.

•  A single snowstorm can drop 40 million tons of snow, carrying the energy equivalent to 120 atom bombs.
• Most snowflakes are less than one-half inch across. The largest snowflake recorded was fifteen inches in diameter.

 

 

• The most snow produced in a single snowstorm is 4.8 meters (15.75ft) at Mt Shasta Ski Bowl, California (USA) between 13 and 19 February 1959.
• It is a fallacy that no two snowflakes are alike (wouldn’t you hate to be the guy given the job of finding that one out?)

• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest snowflake on record measured 38cm wide and 20cm thick. It was observed in Montana, USA in 1887 and described by witnesses as “larger than a milk pan”.
• Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the only permanent snow cap within sight of the equator.

I hate to be the one to say it, but snow is dull.  I Googled ‘interesting facts about snow’ and this is the best I could find.  I wanted to call this post ‘Interesting Facts About Snow’ (why waste a copy & paste?), but I was afraid I’d be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act. 

If you know anything about snow that actually is interesting, please share it with us.