Let’s learn a little snow appreciation

I think snow has a bad reputation around here. A snowy day in Bloomington usually means a bunch of people bitching about the bad roads, the icy sidewalks and their poor, cold, wet feet.

Snow does not deserve this kind of treatment. Snow is the princess of precipitation, the most beautiful of its family – better than rain, sleet and, worst of all, hail. It sparkles as it falls from the sky to blanket the hills of southern Indiana in a way that only it knows how to do.

Its origins are mysterious to most people, but this doesn’t have to be so. Maybe with an understanding of where snow comes from, southern Midwesterners can learn to embrace the winter weather like our neighbors to the north in Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota who withstand much larger snowfalls confidently and proudly.

Snow’s story is an interesting one. Up in the clouds made of water vapor, the temperature will drop very low, below the freezing point of water. The water droplets must attach to some sort of solid particle (in this case, it’s usually dust) and then condense to make a seed crystal. Now the baby snowflake is born, and it grows as more water droplets freeze onto the original crystal.

Depending on the temperature, the snowflake will take on different forms. You’ve heard all snowflakes are different, and that’s probably true. They can be six-sided plates, needles, hollow columns or stars. Snow flakes that form in higher humidity are more likely to grow along the edges because there is more water vapor available. Even after it falls from the cloud, the snowflake can grow and change as frost or other snow flakes freeze onto it.

The possibilities for snowflake design are almost infinite. There are an estimated 10 quintillion (that’s 10 with 18 zeroes following it) water molecules in your average snowflake, which means they have a lot of ways to be arranged.

So, it’s unfortunate that this Friday the Winter Olympics start in Vancouver, Canada, and there is hardly any snow to be found. Experiencing one of its warmest winters on record, Vancouver has had to ship in truckloads of natural and artificial snow in order to host the skiing, snowboarding and biathalon events for the world to see.

Be grateful for what the weather gods have given us. Snow is only here for a short time, and, as you know, it will melt soon. Go outside and enjoy the wonder that is snow.