The Pros And Cons Of Snow

An interesting new learning topic, based on science, would be learning about snow and what it truly is. Especially in a place like Colorado, snow is not unheard of and many people do not know what it truly is even if they are accustomed to it. Snow is common, people step on it and don’t react to it much if it is falling from the sky either, but why aren’t people alarmed that white flakes are falling from the sky? Snow is a mystery to many but it is just another element that doesn’t seem to have an impact on the human body other than being cold, so what is snow, how is it formed, and what is the difference between rain and snow?

Snow is precipitation in the form of ice crystals, so it originates in clouds through the water cycle. Snow is not like rain though, for snow only accumulates when the temperature is less that zero degrees celsius or freezing (“Introduction to Snow”). The way this occurs is by having water vapor going through condensation condenses directly into ice without transferring to the liquid

stage in the water cycle. These ice crystals absorb additional surrounding water vapor growing from ice to a snow crystal. After this has been completed, the snow will precipitate as snowflakes, snow pellets, or sleet. Hail, however, is not considered snow, for it precipitates directly from ice form. Hail has many differences compared to snow also, because hail is mostly an addition to thunderstorms, larger than sleet, and found in spring and summer (Kirschner).
When somebody thinks of a snowflake, one of the first pictures that may pop into their head would be what is shown in figure 1. This form is created if it is below freezing and there is enough water vapor in the air. This form has six branches, and, depending on the water vapor, may add additions to the branches because the water vapor collects on the branches. The more water vapor in the atmosphere increases the mass of the snowflake because more vapor accumulates on the flake. Eventually, when the snowflake is heavy enough, it will drop from the cloud and land on the Earth, and as it falls it will continue to grow because it will catch more water vapor (“How Snow is Formed”). As the flake descends, however, the flake can come into contact with warmer air and start to melt. As this occurs, flakes will start to stick to each other, creating larger snowflakes. This is also why not all snowflakes will only have 6 branches, and the larger snowflakes are what most people imagine when they think of a snowflake. Although snow and rain are both precipitation, they have many big differences. Rain occurs when the air temperature between the cloud and the surface is above zero degrees celsius, and because of this, the rain doesn’t freeze away from a liquid form. Snow will only form after the air temperature becomes below zero because the rain freezes and drops as a solid instead of a liquid (“What’s the difference between snow, sleet, and freezing rain?”). The form of precipitation depends solely on the temperature of the air between the ground and the surface.
Snow is another form of precipitation and is created from the freezing of rain in clouds with temperature.

This chemical reaction creates what everyone considers snow. Snow is a form of rain; therefore, snow shouldn’t be something people fear. Snow is safe for humans because it is just a solid form of water. Also, most snow just melts easily in a person’s hand, so snow can’t do much when coming in contact with the human body temperature. But if it is cold enough outside and the person is cold enough, snow will not melt and could create frostbite. If someone becomes too cold from the snow and the weather, the cold could cause damage to body tissues. In this levels of extreme cold, snow will not melt on the human body. The surface is not as hot as an average human body; therefore, it doesn’t immediately melt when it touches the surface since the weather impacts the surface directly. In conclusion, snow is frozen rain precipitating in below freezing

weather.