8 amazing things about snow

In 1611, Kepler published the first treatise devoted to snow. More exactly at the snowflakes shape. Since then, many others have taken an interest in it. And today we know a little more about what is behind this white fairyland.

What if the snow wasn’t white?

Snow is nothing but icy water. And ice water, everyone knows, is not white. She is translucent. Yet the snowflakes appear very white to us. Because the light is reflected on the different sides of flakes, diffusing in many directions, the set of colors from spectrum. But did you know that snow can sometimes take on other colors? Red for example. A coloration due to an algae, Chlamydomonas nivalis. It grows in the cold and contains a pigment of the type carotenoid.

No size limit for flakes

The largest snowflake ever observed measured some 38 centimeters in diameter. It sounds unbelievable. However, the record was recorded on January 28, 1887 in Guinness World Records Book. And according to scientists, nothing prevents a snowflake from growing like this. Perhaps there are regularly such large ones which are not observed or which are broken by the wind before reaching us.

Hundreds of words

The Inuit would have in their vocabulary, 50 words to designate snow. But at this little game, the Scots just might beat them. The University of Glasgow claims to have identified more than 400 terms related to snow. One “Skelf” thus designates a large snowflake, “Spitters”, small drops of snow and “Unbrak”, the beginning of the thaw.

Snow elsewhere than on Earth

Researchers estimate that it can snow elsewhere than on Earth. On the planet Mars, for example. Snow could fall there during severe storms. Snow taking the form of fine particles of ice without much relation to the soft flakes that we know on our planet. No big snow cover in prospect therefore, only a kind of very fine and irregular frost.

Monkeys and snow

Do you like to play in the snow? Know that you are not the only one. Japanese macaques, also known as ” snow monkeys Were observed making and playing with snowballs. The young macaques seem to take pleasure in stealing snowballs and then fighting to retrieve them.

The snow, not too much

A legend has it that if you spend too much time on the slopes, you risk suffering from piblokto or “hysteria Arctic “. This disorder would affect the Inuit living in the Arctic Circle. The symptoms include insignificant verbal repetition or irrational or dangerous acts, followed by amnesia of the event. The toxicity of the vitamin a– very present in the local diet – would be one of the causes of this disorder. But in recent years, researchers have questioned whether this disease really exists.

Snow affects sound

Freshly fallen snow absorbs the sound waves. This is how this calm and peaceful atmosphere is born after a squall. But if the snow melts and then freezes again, the ice that forms may reflect the sound waves, thus making the sound clearer and more transparent.

Note also that while several factors may trigger an avalanche , noise is not one of them. A storm of snow, an increase in speed wind or even the overzealous step of a skier can trigger a avalanche sudden and murderous. Corn “You can shout as loud as you want without any risk”, is assured on the side of the Institute for the study of snow and avalanches.

The snow warms up

The snow being composed of 90 to 95% ofair imprisoned, it is an excellent insulator. This is the reason why many animals sink into the snow in winter to hibernate. This is also the reason why the igloos, which are heated by the only heatof the body, can reach a much hotter temperature than that prevailing outside.