Let It Snow! – Ten Questions & Answers About Snow

Let It Snow! - A Quillcards™ Ecard
Let It Snow! - A Quillcards™ Ecard

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1.
Question :
What is recorded as the most snow that has even fallen in a single snowstorm?
Answer:
From February 13 to February 19 in 1959, one continuous snowstorm at Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl in California produced 15.75 feet (4.8 meters) of snow.

2.
Question:
What are snowflakes and how are they formed?
Answer:
Snowflakes are actually a special form of water ice. Clouds are made up of water vapor, and it is in this water vapor that snowflakes are formed.

When the temperature drops to 32°F (0° C) or colder, water changes from its liquid form into ice. Beyond that, several components affect the formation of the snowflakes. Temperature, air currents, and humidity all have an impact on the shapes and sizes of snowflakes.

In addition, particles of dirt and dust can get mixed up in the water vapor. Such particles make the snowflake heavier. They can also cause cracks and breaks in the crystal, thereby making it easier to melt.

On the individual level, each snowflake actually contains from two to 200 separate snow crystals.

3.
Question:
How many different shapes can snowflakes be?
Answer:
According to physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, author of Ken Libbrecht’s Field Guide to Snowflakes, there are 35 different types of snowflakes!

Furthermore, it is extremely unlikely that two snowflakes with complex shapes will ever look alike.

Late Afternoon Winter Snow - A Quillcards™ Ecard
Late Afternoon Winter Snow - A Quillcards™ Ecard

4.
Question:
Does it always have to be at the point of freezing or below freezing to snow?
Answer:
No, that’s a common misconception. That’s why even during the warmer months of March or April when the ground temperature is above freezing, there can be a layer of extremely cold air at several thousand feet. As the atmosphere warms, this layer can become unstable – and snow can result.

5.
Question:
What happens to snowflakes falling in such a situation?
Answer:
The snowflakes don’t have time to melt as they fall through the warmer air, and instead they become very large snowflakes that can be about 3 inches (7cm) in diameter.

6.
Question:
How large was the biggest recorded snowflake that fell?
Answer:
In a freak occurrence, snowflakes fell in Montana in the USA on January 28, 1887 that reportedly measured 15 inches (38cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20cm) in thickness.

A man named Matt Coleman who saw these snowflakes descend to Earth characterized them as being “larger than milkpans.”

7.
Question:
Speaking of snow records, what is the largest piece of ice recorded to have fallen to Earth?
Answer:
An ice block measuring 20 feet (6 meters) in length fell in Scotland on August 13, 1849.

8.
Question:
What about hailstones? Have there ever been any fatalities connected with them?
Answer:
Yes. There are a number of records involving fatalities connected with hailstones.

For example, on April 14, 1986, a tremendous hailstorm in Bangladesh with hailstones 4 inches (10cm) across reportedly killed 92 people. Some of the stones weighed 2.25 pounds (1 kg).

9.
Question:
What was the greatest recorded amount of snow that ever fell in one winter in the USA?
Answer:
95 feet (29 metres), which was the amount of snow that fell at Mt. Baker in Washington State during the winter of 1998-1999. That measurement is almost the height of New York’s Statue of Liberty.

10.
Question:
What prompted the composer Jules Styne and the lyricist Sammy Cahn to create the classic Christmas song, ‘Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!’?
Answer:
Well, it definitely wasn’t the weather since it was written in July 1945 when Hollywood was sweltering from one of its hottest days on record.

However, because of its seasonal references to snow and as one of the best-selling songs ever since it first became a popular hit sung by Vaughn Monroe in October 1945, it is generally considered a Christmas song.

Yet despite its upbeat, festive feel, it was intended as a love song and it never mentions Christmas.