Winter has come and the New Year is approaching. And what is the New Year without fluffy snow and snowflakes sparkling in the rays of the sun? The world of snow is amazing and mysterious, which still continues to hide its secrets.
Interesting facts were prepared on www.meteoprog.ua by the Ukranian forecaster Igor Kibalchich, candidate of geographical sciences.
1. Almost all snowflakes are 95% air. Therefore, they fall very slowly, with an average speed of about 0.9 km / h.
2. How is the snow white? Because it contains air in its structure. The light rays are reflected from the ice crystal edges and scattered. But in history there have been cases when snow of a different color fell. For example, in Switzerland, black snow fell on Christmas Day in 1969 (with an admixture of soot), and in 1955, green snow fell on California (due to the presence of certain chemicals in the air). In addition, in the Alps and the Caucasus, red snow falls every few years due to the huge amount of impurities in the form of dust, which is blown out by the wind from the desert regions of North Africa. In Antarctica and in the high mountains, snow of pink, purple, red and yellowish-brown color is sometimes found. This is facilitated by the snow Chlamydomonas living in the snow (a type of unicellular green algae adapted to life in cold conditions).
3. When a snowflake falls into the water, it emits a high-frequency sound that is not picked up by humans, but, according to scientists, fish really do not like it, so it’s better not to go fishing in such weather.
4. Snow melts under normal conditions at a temperature of 0 ° C. However, a significant amount of snow can evaporate at sub-zero temperatures, bypassing the transformation into a liquid phase. This process occurs when the sun’s rays hit the snow and is called sublimation.
5. In the winter season, snow reflects from the Earth’s surface up to 90% of the sun’s rays, directing them back into space, thereby preventing the Earth from warming up. Forecasters take this into account when forecasting temperature, and this property is taken into account in all modern numerical weather forecast models.
6. The first successful photograph of a snowflake under a microscope was taken in 1885. The credit goes to the perseverance and patience of American farmer Wilson Bentley. It took him 46 years of trial and error for this shot.
7. There are no identical snowflakes. Even under the same conditions, crystals, slightly different in shape and geometry, will be formed if viewed under a microscope. After many years of research, the professor of physics at the University of California, Kenneth Libbrecht, spoke about this. In addition, Kenneth learned how to grow artificial snowflakes by changing various parameters of humidity and temperature. At the same time, each time new shapes and sizes are obtained.
8. In Japan, on the island of Hokkaido, there is a whole museum of snowflakes, founded by the scientist Nakaya Ukichiro. Collected here are various photographs and objects related to snow and its role in human history.
RECORDS
1. The greatest amount of snow in one day, namely 193 cm (!) Fell in the place of Silver Lake (Colorado, USA) on April 14-15, 1921. And the greatest amount of snow from one cyclone fell on the slope of Mount Shasta (California, USA) during February 13-19, 1959. After a week of snowfall, the height of the snow cover was 480 cm!
2. On the slopes of Mount Rainier, which is located in the state of Washington (USA), an average of 14.6 m of snow falls per year. And in one year from February 19, 1971 to February 18, 1972, 31.1 m of snow fell here, which is an absolute record for the height of snow cover in the entire history of meteorological observations.
3. In the village of Carpacotta (province of Isernia, Italy) on March 5, 2015, in just 18 hours, 256 cm of snow fell! (100.8 inches). The city is located in the Apennine Mountains at an altitude of 1421 meters. This event became the world record for the intensity of snowfall.
4. The most intense two-day snowfall was recorded on December 29-30, 1955 at the Thompson Pass weather station (Alaska, USA). Then, during one snowfall, 306 cm of snow fell, and in liquid equivalent the amount of precipitation was 307 mm!
5. On average, each snowflake is about 5 – 6 cm in size and weighs 0.004 grams. But the largest snowflake was recorded during a snowfall in the town of Fort Keogh, pcs. Montana (USA) January 28, 1887. Its diameter was 38 cm!
