DID YOU EVER WONDER WHAT SNOW IS?

Well believe it or not snow is considered a mineral like just like diamonds and salt. Freshly fallen snow is usually 90 to 95% air and that makes it a good thermal insulator. Remember the stories you heard about there being no two snowflakes exactly alike….well they're not true. Many are identical. The largest snowflake ever observed, according to the Guinness World Records, was a 15 incher that fell in Montana.in 1887. A snow crystal can often be 650 times as wide as it is thick.

At the center of each snowflake can be found a tiny speck of dust and it can be from volcano ash or even a particle from outer space. As the crystal grows around the speck, the shape of it is altered by humidity, temperature and wind as it descends to earth.

The heaviest snowfall in the United States is traditionally Valdez Alaska. On average they get 326 inches each year. Do you believe that it snows more at the north and south poles than anywhere else? The truth is that it does not, and the blizzards we see in recordings are really caused by the blowing of old snow. In Antarctica the hard flat snow reflects sound waves so efficiently that some researchers say you can hear a human voice a mile away.

In the very early times of our planet (600 million years ago) the Earth was entirely covered miles deep in snow and ice. No complex life was able to survive at that time. Finally our passion for skiing and snow boarding is killing us. It has been recorded that in the last 10 years two hundred and seventy people have died from snow avalanches in our country. In the southern half of our planet there are few that have seen or felt this cold mineral. They only dream of its beauty and long to hold it in their hand or catch a snowflake on their tongue.