Snow
Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
- Snow500 related topics
Firn
Firn (from Swiss German firn "last year's", cognate with before) is partially compacted névé, a type of snow that has been left over from past seasons and has been recrystallized into a substance denser than névé.
Cross-country skiing
Form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance.
Standard orienteering maps are used, but with special green overprinting of trails and tracks to indicate their navigability in snow; other symbols indicate whether any roads are snow-covered or clear.
Automatic weather station
Automated version of the traditional weather station, either to save human labour or to enable measurements from remote areas.
Also, precipitation measurements are difficult, especially for snow, as the gauge must empty itself between observations.
Névé
Névé is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted, yet precedes the form of ice.
Antarctica
Earth's southernmost continent.
Glaciologists study the history and dynamics of floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and ice sheets.
Wilson Bentley
American meteorologist and photographer, who was the first known person to take detailed photographs of snowflakes and record their features.
He first became interested in snow crystals as a teenager on his family farm.
Shower (precipitation)
Mode of precipitation characterized by an abrupt start and end and by rapid variations in intensity.
A shower will produce rain if the temperature is above the freezing point in the cloud, or snow / ice pellets / snow pellets / hail if the temperature is below it at some point.
Ski wax
Ski wax is a material applied to the bottom of snow runners, including skis, snowboards, and toboggans, to improve their coefficient of friction performance under varying snow conditions.
Blowing snow
Blowing snow is snow lifted from the surface by the wind, at eye level (1.8 m) or more, that will reduce visibility.
Snow gauge
Type of instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of solid precipitation over a set period of time.
When snow is collected, the container is removed and replaced with a spare one.