sanctus Posted January 7, 2010 Report Posted January 7, 2010 I always thought it can only snow when the temperature is close to zero, but not when it is far below. The other day it was snowing in Oslo and it was -17 degrees Celsius. And it was real snowing, I mean with clouds in the sky etc, not just blue skies and some humidity in the air falling down as snow. A friend said there is no reason that it should not snow at those temperatures, it is just that usually when it is covered it is warmer... Quote
Turtle Posted January 8, 2010 Report Posted January 8, 2010 interesting. i never heard that meme, but then i haven't lived where the temp is likely to go to -17º. that would be 1.4º F but, as you're in oslo & so low no big deal, i went looking for some facts on the matter because it didn't sound right to me that it could be "too cold to snow".. :) here's what some guy named jeff says: CAN IT BE TOO COLD TO SNOW?...Even at very cold surface temperatures significant snowfall can occur because: (1) intense lifting can produce significant precipitation even at a very low temperature, (2) the temperature aloft can be much warmer than the temperature at the surface. The relatively warmer air aloft can have a larger moisture content than air in the PBL, (3) Moisture advection can continue to bring a renewed supply of moisture into a region where lifting is occurring, (4) Even at very cold temperatures the air always has a capacity to have some water vapor. If the air cools to truly frigid Arctic temperatures such as -40 C and below then the moisture capacity of the air will be so low that likely not much snow can occur. Only at these extremely low temperatures is the phrase "it is too cold to snow" fairly valid. ... Quote
modest Posted January 8, 2010 Report Posted January 8, 2010 The other day it was snowing in Oslo and it was -17 degrees Celsius. Coincidentally, It's also -17 C here in NE Kansas tonight... but it's not snowing. But, it was about 24 hours ago and according to NOAA's weather history it was -12 C while it was snowing. Then again, there's usually quite a bit of moisture in the air here from the gulf making the dew point annoyingly low :) ~modest -----> EDIT -----> Snowing this morning BrianG 1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.