what makes Snow?

Question

When a cloud comes back down, what makes it convert into rain, hail, or snow?

Answer 1

Snow is precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes. Since it is composed of small rough particles it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure.

Snow is commonly formed when water vapor undergoes deposition high in the atmosphere at a temperature of less than 0°C, and then falls to the ground. It can also be produced by hoar frost which falls from the surface on which it is formed, or falling particles of ice fog formed when the humidity in surface air freezes at very low temperatures. Snow is less dense than rain, which means the same amount of moisture will produce a greater volume of snow than it will rain. One rule of thumb is that the water in eight units of snow is equivalent to one unit of rain. See Snow density.

Occurrence
The probability of snowfall varies with season, location, and other geographic factors such as latitude and elevation. In the latitudinal area closer to the equator, there is a rather small chance of snowfall, 35° N and 40°S are often quoted as a rough delimiter. The western coasts of the major continents remain devoid of snow to much higher latitudes.

Permanent snow covering is affected by factors such as the degree of slope on the land, amount of snowfall and the force and nature of the winds. As temperature decreases with altitude, high mountains, even near the Equator, have permanent snow cover on their upper portions, around 5,300 m high. Examples include Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Tropical Andes in South America; however, the only snow actually to appear on the Equator is at 4,690 m altitude of the southern slope of Volcán Cayambe in Ecuador (Google Earth images).

Conversely, many regions of the Arctic and Antarctic receive very little precipitation and therefore experience little snowfall despite the bitter cold (cold air, unlike warm air, cannot take away much water vapor from the sea). Here, the snow does not melt at sea level. In addition to the dry, snowless regions of the poles, there are some mountains and volcanoes in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina that are high (4,500 m-6,900 m) and cold, but the lack of precipitation near the hyperarid Atacama Desert prevents snow from accumulating into glaciers.

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Answer 2

It is so cold that the raindrops are heavier due to the colder temperature, thus raindrop fall before they get very big. They freeze on the way down and there is snow. Hail is when they formed large drops but kept getting blown back up by the wind and gained more water, fell and froze and repeated until the wind could no longer hold them up.
The stronger the wind the bigger the hail. golfball size is wind typically over 100 mph for a period of time.

Answer 3

clouds are formed by sucking moisture out of the air. if its cold it turns into crystals and falls as snow. if its not so cold the crystals bond and make water droplets (what we call rain) and fall. Hail is formed if clouds hold even more mosture -- even though we think of clouds as weightless puffy things they make hail by bouncing around ice crystals. especially large clouds can bounce these around inside them until they get quite large. eventually the cloud gives because it gets too heavy and we get hailed on.

Basically each cloud has its saturation point. When it gets full it has to let go the moisture its collected. Usually it is cold enough in the atmosphere to make things freeze. If it is cold enough at surface temp you get snow. If not you get rain.

Answer 4

snow form from ice crystals that merge in clouds.

Answer 5

ditto on "the temperature!!!!!"
the cold air turns the water to snow as it falls.

Answer 6

If you go back to the originator of it all, in my belief system, it is God.

Answer 7

the temperature of the atmosphere in which the cloud is located

Answer 8

Go

Answer 9

weatHER

Answer 10

The temperature!!!!!!!!!!