Snow covered ground this morning....gone this afternoon, but temp never over 27degrees....how did that happen?

Answer 1

The earth is naturally giving off heat all the time so if the ground is warm enough it will melt snow even if the air is cold

Answer 2

The temperature is warmer close to the surface of the ground because the way air heats is by heating objects such as the ground and the air absorbing heat from the ground. So if it is 27 degrees a few feet above the ground it could be 32 degrees or so at ground level. A small amount of snow therefor could melt. A larges amount of snow would not melt because it would absorb the latent heat of the ground and the ground would cool to below 32 degrees.

Answer 3

Wind could have blown it away.

If it's a bright, sunny day, the Sun could have warmed up the ground enough to melt the snow (assuming it was just a dusting of snow so the ground showed through), even though the Sun didn't warm up the air above 27 degrees. (This, I think, is the most likely scenario.)

The snow could have sublimated (gone from solid directly to gas, without melting) although that's usually a slow process (science experiment - leave an ice cube in your freezer for a few months and it will disappear!).

You're thermometer is broken, and it really got above 32 degrees.

Answer 4

If it's a thin layer of snow, radiation from the sun can melt the snow even though it's below freezing outside.

Answer 5

The ground has absorbed heat and its temperature is higher than 32 deg. F.

Answer 6

Awwwww thats a shame, i love snow, not had much in scotland so far :(