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SnowSnow, a form of precipitation, is a crystalline form of water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes. Since it is composed of small rough particles, it has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure. Very light snow falling is called flurries or just a flurry.
Snow is commonly formed when water vapor sublimates high in the atmosphere and then falls to the ground. Snow can be also manufactured using snow cannons, which actually create tiny granules more like sleet. (This is sometimes called "grits" by those in the southern U.S. for its likeness to the texture of the food.) OccurrenceSnowfall varies by time and location, including geographic latitude, elevation and other factors which affect weather in general. In latitudes closer to the equator, there is less chance of snow fall, 35 degrees of northern and southern latitude often quoted as a rough delimiter. The western coasts of the major continents remain snowless to much higher latitudes. Some mountains, even at or near the equator, have permanent snow cover on their top, including Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Conversely, many regions of the Arctic and Antarctic receive very little precipitation and therefore little snow, despite the bitter cold. The highest seasonally cumulative precipitation of snow was measured on Mount Baker during 1998-1999 season when they received 28 meters or 1,140 inches; this surpassed the previous record holder, Mount Rainier which during 1971-1972 season received a thousand inches (25 m) of snow; and the highest daily precipitation was recorded in Colorado in 1921 (1.9 metres , 76 inches). RecreationForms of recreation dependent on snow:
Where snow is scarce but the temperature is low enough, snow cannons may be used to produce an adequate amount for such sports. Tightly packed snow may be used as a construction material in, for example, Inuit snow houses.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Snow" and from http://www.white-on.com
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