Is Snow Wet?

Question

Is Snow wet? ... Its made of water ... but is it actually wet?

Answer 1

No. Properly speaking, snow is ice. Ice is the solid (i.e. dry) form of water. Steam is the gaseous form. Water is most stable as a liquid.

Snow can seem 'wetter' or 'dryer'. This is caused by the temperature and humidity of the air, through which the snow is falling. The more humid/less cold the air, generally, the bigger the 'flakes' (clusters of six-pointed crystals, partially melted together).

Answer 2

It can be. If the temperature from cloud to ground level is below freezing the entire way thru, it is seldom if ever wet - especially if well below freezing. In that case it is dry, powdery snow even on the ground. I say "seldom if ever" because there is supercooled water in a cloud - water droplets are common in clouds at temperatures around -10 °C to -20 °C and ice crystals rarely form at temperatures greater than -5 °C. These normally freeze on contact with an ice crystal, but I am not sure they must in all circumstances.

If the temperature in some layer above or at ground is above freezing, the snow will tend to be wet because it will partially melt and may collide with water droplets, raindrops, &/or mist - water on the snow crystal not freezing immediately even if it does go thru a subfreezing layer before reaching ground.

Look at the METAR reports:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAR

when snow occurs and see how often SN BR (snow & mist) is reported. In each of these cases, the snow is probably a bit wet on the outside even if the temperature is below freezing - though maybe not wet enough to pack well.

Friction of the snowflake falling thru the air causes it to heat - maybe melting it a little on the outside - I don't know how much - am guessing only a tiny bit - it is not a spacecraft or meteor burning away at hundreds or thousands of mph.

Many times the snow becomes wet on the ground because although the air temperature is below freezing, the ground surface or directly below is above freezing.

The only valid argument a person has that snow cannot be wet is that the water that often surrounds a snowflake from melting, etc. is not part of the snow - but it generally is considered so.

Answer 3

Not when it is "snow". Once it hits the ground, it has a few things that might happen.
If the ground is above freezing, it will melt immediately and be water.
If the ground is near freezing, like 33 degrees and falling, it will still melt, but slower but will still turn to water.
If the air the snow is falling through is below freezing and the ground is already frozen, the snow will just lie there and accumulate. At this point, it is not wet. Won't be wet until the temperature rises above freezing.

Answer 4

The answer to this question is determined by the relative humidity at the time snow falls. There are very wet snows that cause roofs to collapse and there is really dry snow which tends to blow around a lot.

Answer 5

Snow is frozen water and so if you touch it the heat from your hand will make a small part of it melt and so it'll feel wet. You can get ice so cold that it is dry though.

Answer 6

only when it is at around the freezing mark on the thermometer when it turns to a liquid, water. When it is cold about -10 Celsius it is a solid flake of ice. In answer to your question is a solid when very cold and wet when close to the melting point.

Answer 7

Sometimes it is very wet and sometimes it is dry. The wet snow is great for building snowmen and making snowballs. The dry snow won't work for making anything. It is like powder.

Answer 8

No, snow is not wet. It's a solid. When it melts it is water and therefore not snow!

Answer 9

No, Snow is not wet

It is dry until;

it will start to melt, as it falls , through a warmer atmosphere .
or deteriorate to slush, as it is warmed, by contact with warmer earth, pavements etc

But a snow -flake is ; a dry frozen crystalline group , ( of frozen water ) it is actually dry when formed

Much loved by Santa and his reindeer !

>^,,^<

Answer 10

no, the water thats on it is wet. water is a liquid, snow is a solid. when it melts it get wet. so it is wet there is water on it.