Too Cold to Snow?

[Overman]

Is it ever too cold to snow?

If so would this temperature be anything near what midwestern humans see?

 

[fishbait]

At the temperature of absolute zero ( 0 K, -273 C, -459 F) all air including water vapor condenses and loses all molecular energy. No snow.

When I was a kid living in Northern Michigan we had days this cold and had to walk five miles to school through a block of solid ice.

 

[sphenisc]

At the temperature of absolute zero ( 0 K, -273 C, -459 F) all air including water vapor condenses and loses all molecular energy. No snow.

When I was a kid living in Northern Michigan we had days this cold and had to walk five miles to school through a block of solid ice.

We took the bus, the driver wasn't very nice but we had a superconductor.

 

[Modified]

Is it ever too cold to snow?

Snow becomes unlikely at very cold temperatures.

If so would this temperature be anything near what midwestern humans see?

Snow would be unlikely during record cold temperatures in most states.

 

[Overman]

Anyone have any idea of exact tempatures?

I was arguing this against a large portion of my family...They all said it was too cold to snow on a lot of winter days...I was skeptical of the claim, and figured it could snow anytime water can freeze...

 

[Beady]

At the temperature of absolute zero ( 0 K, -273 C, -459 F) all air including water vapor condenses and loses all molecular energy. No snow.

When I was a kid living in Northern Michigan we had days this cold and had to walk five miles to school through a block of solid ice.

Uphill.

In both directions.

 

[bmillsap]

I think it's not that cold->no snow, but that lack of cloud cover->cold and lack of cloud cover->no snow. Wherever you live, your coldest days of the year are likely to be clear since cloud cover helps to hold in heat overnight. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will have snow on your coldest days because a (usually) necessary condition to have one of your coldest days is lack of cloud cover.

 

[Garrette]

Uphill.

In both directions.

Fighting an Army of Huns.

 

[jimlintott]

I think it's not that cold->no snow, but that lack of cloud cover->cold and lack of cloud cover->no snow. Wherever you live, your coldest days of the year are likely to be clear since cloud cover helps to hold in heat overnight. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will have snow on your coldest days because a (usually) necessary condition to have one of your coldest days is lack of cloud cover.

I think this is more on the right track. We get bitter cold temps here that sometimes approach -45C and I can't remember ever seeing it snow while that cold. Usually those temps are because we are sitting under an arctic high pressure system. While it's cold the skies are clear and sunny.

While it can snow while quite cold we usually get snow at -10C or warmer.

 

[Garrette]

I think it's not that cold->no snow, but that lack of cloud cover->cold and lack of cloud cover->no snow. Wherever you live, your coldest days of the year are likely to be clear since cloud cover helps to hold in heat overnight. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will have snow on your coldest days because a (usually) necessary condition to have one of your coldest days is lack of cloud cover.

Don't know if it's right, but it's the first explanation that has made sense to me.

 

[This Guy]

Anyone have any idea of exact tempatures?

I was arguing this against a large portion of my family...They all said it was too cold to snow on a lot of winter days...I was skeptical of the claim, and figured it could snow anytime water can freeze...

It's strange that you ask this question now. I was just thinking the same thing last week. My Dad used to say it was too cold to snow. I remembered that last week, and questioned that it was true.

Did a bit of looking around, and found this -

Is it ever too cold to snow? No, it can snow even at incredibly cold temperatures as long as there is some source of moisture and some way to lift or cool the air. It is true, however, that most heavy snowfalls occur with relatively warm air temperatures near the ground - typically 15°F or warmer since air can hold more water vapor at warmer temperatures.

http://nsidc.org/snow/faq.html

 

[Overman]

It's strange that you ask this question now. I was just thinking the same thing last week. My Dad used to say it was too cold to snow. I remembered that last week, and questioned that it was true.

Did a bit of looking around, and found this -

Is it ever too cold to snow? No, it can snow even at incredibly cold temperatures as long as there is some source of moisture and some way to lift or cool the air. It is true, however, that most heavy snowfalls occur with relatively warm air temperatures near the ground - typically 15°F or warmer since air can hold more water vapor at warmer temperatures.

http://nsidc.org/snow/faq.html

Superb.

Thanks a ton man!

 

[Loss Leader]

It's not that on any given day it might be too cold to snow, it is that prolonged days of cold make snow less likely.

In order for it to snow (or rain, for that matter), there has to be water vapor in the air. The warmer the air is, the more water it can hold. When warm air gets colder, the water condenses out - if it's below freezing in the atmosphere, as snow.

First of all, there's a lot less water vapor in cold air than in warm, so there's a lot less water available to make snow. One would need some warmer air to bring in some water vapor, hit your cold air and create snow.

What really makes it "too cold to snow" in the midwest and on the plains is the fact that there's no warm, wet air coming. The air that hits the plains picked up its moisture over the Pacific and lost most of it when it had to push itself over the Rockies. Then it might travel a thousand or more miles over flat ground that has very little water to pick up. There are no big lakes, no seas, no nothing. When that wind finally gets to Illinois, it hasn't picked up enough moisture to create rain even if it hits a wall of cold air.


Of course, then it hits the great lakes, picks up plenty of water and dumps it all on Buffalo. But, then, that's what you get for living in Buffalo.

Otherwise, you'll get snow on the plains from wind traveling north from the Gulf of Mexico or a really warm front from California that powers its way particularly far inland.

 

[This Guy]

Superb.

Thanks a ton man!

Your most welcome!

 

[Huntster]

Is it ever too cold to snow?

Actually, that isn't quite how it works, although most make that correlation.

What happens is that high air pressures push the lows (with the clouds/moisture) away, and the lack of cloud cover allows the cold to seek the vacuum.

When the highs are elsewhere, they push the clouds/moisture to you, and that's when it snows.

Believe it or not, the air pressures actually affect fish in lakes under the ice. I've learned that as a high pressure system leaves and a low is coming, bringing warmer temps and snow/rain, get your holes drilled in the ice and lower the bait..................the fish will be hungry and getting active.

During the high? Don't bother; it will be miserably cold, and you won't be getting any bites.

 

[Just thinking]

Here's another related question ... during precipitation, does the air temperature have to increase? I've heard some explanations as to why this is the case, (and they make sense) but I'm not certain that it must be true every time.

 

[jaydeehess]

For precipitation of either kind to occur one needs moisture in the air coming that is being cooled.

moisture is picked up as water evaporates at ground level

In a low pressure system the air is moving upwards and the (generally) warmer air at ground level is then drawn up to cooler levels where the moisture condenses as snow or rain.

In a high pressure system the air is moving in the opposite direction(downwards) from a (generally) cooler and drier level to the ground. Thus low pressure sytems are associated with greater cloud cover and precipitation.

A high pressure system also rotates CW and thus the wind direction at its leading edge is from the north(in the northern hemisphere). This means that the air being delivered to your area along the high pressure front is coming from a cooler location(generally). So you have cooler temperatures and sunny skies associated with high pressure systems and thus less chance of precip.

In the Arctic , with the sea ice frozen over it is the equivalent of being farther from the water in the winter, and in the summer the sea temp and the air temp difference is often not that great which results in less evaporation from the sea, less moisture in the air and thus less precipitation.

More common in the arctic is low level ice crystals in the air. In essence it is snow formed just above ground level right out of the clear sky. It never amounts to much accumulation and often just hangs in the air sparkling like tiny diamonds.(if the sun is up or there is another light source)

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Is it ever too cold to snow?

If so would this temperature be anything near what midwestern humans see?

http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/spwebcam.cfm

Is the link to the webcam at Amundsen Scott - the southern pole observatory.

You will notice that is surrounded by - snow. The temperature as I write is, according to the website, -33 C - and this is summer there...

I think (and I am no meteorolgist) that the determining factor on whether it will snow or not is - humidity, not temperature. If the air temp is below freezing and there is humidity - it will snow.

 

[UserGoogol]

Actually, I think I've heard that Antarctica gets very little snow, it's just that whatever they get never melts. Wikipedia confirms this, at any rate.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Antarctica is a desert. It's just not a hot desert.