#sneachda

Sweet Juice

Sneachda

Some people claim that they've been getting more snow over the past years - this may or may not be true - and that this is a sign of the world getting colder - it's not.

What's funny here is that they're technically wrong in their belief that the colder it gets, the snowier it gets as the truth is that you get more snowfall the closer to 0°C it is and the more humid the air is. Now, the UK has seen some "spectacularly cold" winters (oh the poor Britons, I'm pretending not to laugh) over the last three years, but the snowfall is not a result of falling global temperatures, but a combination of the high humidity in the British air and some mean high pressures from Siberia holidaying in the UK.

Now, in theory it can never be too cold to snow - though the way snow forms is different depending on the temperature - but at the same time it is a lie that it has to be 0°C for snow to form. Snow can fall even when the temperature at ground level is as high as 4°C, as long as the air is humid and cold enough.

Because that's basically it - the formula for snow is humid air, tiny particles that snow can cling on to and temperatures around 0°C or below.

At the same time, however, snow will rarely fall when it's colder than -20°C, as the cold usually comes together with very dry air, and the dry air prevents snow from forming; in fact, in order for snow to form, regardless of the temperature, the air humidity has to be 100%.

What is more, if we're thinking of snow as snow flakes, it's a scientific truth that snowfall when it's close to 0°C will include the highest concentration of individual snowflakes and big, numerous ones at that, but the colder it gets, the fewer snowflakes will fall. In fact, as soon as we're hitting -18°C, snowflakes become rarities, and if the temperature falls below -36°C - quite common back home - snowflakes cannot actually form.

Also, if you get lost in the snow whilst in the outdoors, and you dig a hole in a snow pile and insert your sleeping bag into it, you'll be warmer than if you sleep on top of the snow, as snow is an incredibly good insulator, and it actually stores heat quite well, because fresh snow is basically made up of 10% super awesome snowflakes and 90% trapped air. You could also try to build an igloo in order to stay warm, but let's face it, most people don't know how to do it, so the hole in the snow pile trick is probably your best choice.