11 Facts About Snow

Here are some facts about snow.

• Snow is a type of precipitation, made up of small particles of ice. It is formed from the water vapour in the air when the temperature is below freezing.
• The city with a population of over a million that gets the most snow is Sapporo, Japan. In the UK, the Scottish Highlands is the area which gets the most snow.
• The most snowfall in one year was about 2895 cm recorded at Mount Baker in the northeast United States from 1998 to 1999. The most snowfall in 24 hours was 193 cm in Colorado in 1921.
• Snow falls in the form of snowflakes, all of which have different shapes. The complex shapes are caused by differences in humidity and temperature.
• Skiing, snowmobiling and snowboarding are all popular winter sports. In Finland, the world’s largest snow castle is built each winter, occupying up to 20,000 square metres.
• The level of visibility determines the intensity of snow, and in heavy snow visibility is under 0.5 km. Heavy snow and strong winds for 3 hours are defined as a blizzard.
• When coal was widely used, snow often looked grey as it mixed with coal dust in the air. In parts of Canada, snow often looks pink as it mixes with red clay particles.
• There are several different types of snow, including flakes, flurries, sleet and artificial snow.
• The Sami people of northern Scandinavia have about 80 words for snow and ice.
• A white Christmas in the UK is when a snowflake falls on the roof of the London weather centre on Christmas Day. There have only been 7 white Christmases in the UK in the 20th century.
• In 2008, people in Bethel, Maine, USA, built a snowman 37 metres tall. It had 19 metre trees for arms, tyres for lips and almost 700 metres of rope for its hair.