Why is it sometimes said to be too cold to snow?

Question

It snows at the poles and that is bloody freezing!

Answer 1

One phrase that is heard from time to time is that, "it is too cold to snow today". In actuality, earth's troposphere is not too cold to snow but rather it is "too dynamically stable to snow". Dynamic stability may be present due to low-level cold air advection, a lack of upper level divergence, and/or a lack of low level convergence. Also, if dynamic lifting does occur it may not produce precipitation that reaches the surface due to low relative humidity values in the lower troposphere.

The ingredients for snow are: (1) a temperature profile that allows snow to reach the surface, (2) saturated air, and (3) enough lifting of that saturated air to allow snow to develop aloft and fall to reach the surface. In a situation when it is said "it is too cold to snow" there is in reality not enough lifting of air that causes snow to reach the surface.

The phrase "it is too cold to snow today" probably originated as a misapplication of the relationship between temperature and the maximum amount of water vapor that can be in the air. When temperature decreases, the maximum capacity of water vapor that can be in the air decreases. Therefore, the colder it gets the less water vapor there will be in the air.

Answer 2

name Barbie
status student
age 30s
Question - What is meant by the phrase "it's too cold to snow"?

If it is too cold, the atmosphere can not hold water.
No water, no snow.
The most prominent example of this is Antartica, the south pole. The
precipitation at the south pole is minimum, to the extent that it is
categorized as a desert. The precipitation that falls does not melt readily.

Harold Myron
=========================================================
Barbie-

The temperature of the air affects the amount of water vapor it can hold.
Colder air holds less water. To have a significant snow, you need
significant water vapor in the air. At temperatures well below freezing
there is not enough water in the air to get much snow.

The exception to this is in places on the lee side of a large body of
water. Here the air need not hold much water, but only keep blowing.

Larry Krengel

Answer 3

It is never too cold for snow but there is a secondary effect here.
The coldest nights have a clear sky.
Clear sky = no clouds
No clouds = no snow
So it is correct to say that on the coldest nights it is unlikely to snow but it is wrong to assume that it is not snowing because it is cold.

Got to watch out for this kind of thing - it crops up all over the place especially in newspapers.

Answer 4

Actually it doesn't snow at the poles. Much of Antartica is snow-free because it is too cold to snow. The same applies to SIberia.

Snow won't normally form if the temperature is below about -5°C.

Answer 5

Well, freezing is 32 degrees fahrenheit, right? Well, if it get's too cold, let's say... 10 degrees... it's too cold to snow. Warmer air holds more water so it falls easier... if the air is cold it doesn't hold as much water so it doesn't snow. 25 degrees will hold more water (which will freeze, turn to snow and snow) than 10 degrees. If it's too cold it won't hold much water and won't gather enough to get heavy and let the precipitation fall.

Answer 6

The temperature of the air affects the amount of water vapor it can hold.
Colder air holds less water. To have a significant snow, you need significant water vapor in the air. At temperatures well below freezing there is not enough water in the air to get much snow.
The exception to this is in places on the lee side of a large body of water. Here the air need not hold much water, but only keep blowing.

Answer 7

usually very chilly climate contained in the united kingdom is linked with severe rigidity which brings sparkling skies and extremely difficult frosts at evening. usually low rigidity includes the united kingdom from the south west over really warmth sea so at the same time as the air mass arrives that is moist adequate to reason precipitation yet warmth adequate for this to fall as rain. If moist air meets very chilly air then we get snow yet this can usually take position at temperatures in hardship-free words slightly below or slightly above freezing it truly is why we not in any respect get snow for extremely lengthy before it melts again. when we are saying it really is too chilly to snow we usually mean we are less than the effect of severe rigidity which has added very chilly yet also very dry air over the country - it is going to usually warmth up before it snows..... EDIT: to those of you speaking about different international places that is a British putting forward and so in hardship-free words applies to the united kingdom. for sure there are chillier, snowier international places contained in the international regardless of the indisputable fact that the united kingdom has some exceptionally unique climate kinds because of the North Atlantic flow / Gulf flow meaning that is often hotter than it will be in preserving with decision on my own.

Answer 8

It's a chicken-and-egg thing.. What actually happens is that on days where there is little cloud cover (and hence little snow/precipitation), the temperatures tend to drop - as you probably have realised, a clear night is often a cold night. So people are responding this this by saying that 'it doesn't snow when it's cold'. What they really mean is 'when there is no cloud cover and no snow or rain, it feels colder'.

that's my explaination :)


christo

Answer 9

It's never too cold to snow. And Gnomon doesn't know what he's talkign about. No snow in Antarctica or Siberia? You don't have to work at Jiffy Lube to know better than that. Siberia is having a big problem with smelly orange snow and what does he think that icy land cover in antarctica started out as?

Answer 10

I think it is just one of those old wives tales that gets passed from generation to generation.

Actually, just to add - the weather expert on Radio 1 was asked this question earlier today and apparently she has been told that it has snowed in Canada and it was -40 so I still stand by my opinion that it is never too cold to snow!