Snow is precipitation in the form of ice crystals.
Water vapor travels from the ground to the level of the atmosphere to form clouds all throughout the year no matter what the temperature is.
Snow forms when water vapor in the atmosphere freezes into ice crystals. These tiny ice crystals collect on tiny pieces of dirt in the atmosphere.
Sometimes there are as many as 200 ice crystals clumped together to make a single snowflake.
Snow forms when the atmospheric temperature is at or below freezing (0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit) and there is a minimum amount of moisture in the air.
There are so many ways that ice crystals can grow that some people say that no two snowflakes are alike.
Snow comes in different crystal shapes. Often depicted as stellar dentrites, snow can fall in a variety of shapes, such as simple prisms, hollow columns, fernlike stellar dentrites and triangular crystals.
Snow is actually colorless. Visible sunlight is white. Most natural materials absorb some sunlight which gives them their color. Snow, however, reflects most of the sunlight.
What little sunlight is absorbed by snow is absorbed uniformly over the wavelengths of visible light thus giving snow its white appearance.
The average snowflake is made up of 180 billion molecules of water and falls at a speed of 5 kilometer per hour (3.1 miles per hour).
The average snowflake ranges from a size slightly smaller than a penny to the width of a human hair.
Every winter, at least one septillion (that’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000—24 zeros!) snowflakes fall from the sky.
Guinness World Records lists the largest snowflakes as having fallen during a storm in January 1887 at Fort Keogh, in Montana.
A rancher nearby, the book says, called them “larger than milk pans” and measured one at 38 centimeters (15 inches) wide.
The exact amount of water contained in snow can vary quite significantly depending on how the snow formed, but as a general average, every 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) of snow would provide 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) of water.
The highest snowfall ever recorded in a one year period was 31.1 meters (1,224 inches) in Mount Rainier, Washington State, United States, between February 19, 1971 and February 18, 1972.
On March 5, 2015, some 2.56 meters (101 inches) of snow fell in 24 hours in Capracotta, Italy, setting a new world record, which is recognized by Guinness World Record.
The most snowmen built in one hour is 2,036 and was achieved by Drama 24 Unhandy Handyman (Japan) at Zuriyama Observation Field, in Akabira, Hokkaido, Japan, on 28 February 2015.
Chionophobia is the extreme dislike or fear of snow. The word originates from Greek chion meaning snow and phobos meaning fear, aversion or dread.
After years of experimenting with connecting microscopes to a bellows camera, in 1885 Wilson Bentley succeeding in capturing the first ever snowflake photograph.
Snow reflects a high level of ultraviolet radiation and can cause snow blindness (photokeratitis).
There are at least 35 different classifications of snowflake forms.
The most snow ever recorded from a single storm in North America was 189 inches.
The largest snowball fight of all time counted 7,681 people.
Syracuse, New York, was once so fed up with snow they made it illegal.
There's a pretty accurate map deciding if you'll get snow on Christmas Day.
Snow typically looks white, but can be seen in many colors.
The most snowfall in the US in 24 hours was 75.8 inches.
The largest snowflake ever reported was 15 inches wide, though its existence hasn't been proven.
The world's tallest snow figure stood 11 stories tall in Bethel, Maine.
बर्फ में 90-95 प्रतिशत तक हवा कैद होती है | इसका मतलब है कि यह गर्मी को रोककर रखती है | यही वजह है कि बर्फीले इलाको में बहुत से जानवर बर्फ के भीतर गहराई तक खुदाई करके अपने छुपने के ठिकाने बनाते है |
हिमकण गिरने की रफ्तार एक किमी प्रति घंटे जितनी धीमी से लेकर 14 किमी प्रति घंटे तेज हो सकती है | यह रफ्तार माहौल पर निर्भर करती है |
जब बर्फ पिघलकर फिर से जमती है तो इसमें आवाज कैद होकर दूर तक फ़ैल जाती है | तेज आवाजे खुसर-पुसर में तब्दील हो जाती है |
दरअसल यह क्रिस्टल जैसी होती है जिसके आर-पार रोशनी के गुजरने की वजह से यह सफेद दिखती है | बर्फ कई बार प्रदुषण , धुएं और हरी काई का रंग भी ले लेती है | बर्फ को नारंगी से लेकर काले रंग में भी देखा गया है |
कुछ लोग इसे कोरी कल्पना कहते है तो कोई इसे सटीक सत्य बताते है पर स्कॉटलैंड के रिसर्च में यह बात सामने आयी है कि बर्फ को 421 तरह से पुकारा जाता है |
बर्फबारी (Snowfall) के बीच अधिक वक्त बिताने से “आर्कटिक हिस्टीरिया” नामक बीमारी के शिकार हो सकते है | उत्तरी ध्रुव पर रहने वाले इनुइट लोग अक्सर इसके शिकार हो जाते है | इस दौरान लोग बेवजह के शब्द बोलते है |
“आर्कटिक हिस्टीरिया” के होने पर संदेह हो लेकिन बर्फबारी से डर लगने की बीमारी तो लोगो को यकीनन होती है | इसे “शिओंनफोबिया” कहते है | यह ग्रीक शब्द “शिओन” से बना है |
35 अलग-अलग प्रकार के Snow-flex का वर्णन किया जा चूका है | इसके अलावा भी कई तरह के हिमकण देखने को मिलते है | वे बड़े घनाकार टुकडो से लेकर परो जैसे पतले आकार तक के मिलते है |