Air and Water in the Environment Unit: Air and Water in the Environment Lesson 20 – All About Snow

All About Snow

Vocabulary

Read the vocabulary terms to understand the reading better.

Cloud

A cloud is a large amount of tiny water droplets that float in the sky together.

Dry Snow

Dry snow is when snowflakes stay small because they do not stick together.

Freezing

Freezing is when there is a change of state from liquid to solid.

Ice Crystals

Ice crystals happen when the air in a cloud is very cold and the drops of water freeze.

Snowflake

A snowflake is tiny pieces of ice crystals that form when water vapour in very cold air freezes. Snowflakes have six sides

Up in the Clouds

Clouds are made of very tiny drops of water that float in the air. When the air in a cloud is very cold, the drops of water freeze. Then they become tiny ice crystals.

The ice crystals in a cloud are moving. When the ice crystals bump into each other, they stick together. A snowflake starts to form. The snowflake gets heavier as more ice crystals stick to it. Soon it is heavy enough to fall to the ground.

Snowflake Shapes

Snowflakes come in many different shapes. Here are a few examples:

Wet Snow and Dry Snow

Wet snow is snow that sticks together.

You need wet snow to make a snowman. Wet snow forms when the air is just a little warmer than 0°C. The edges of the snowflakes melt, and many snowflakes stick together to create large flakes. Wet snow is heavy to shovel.

When the air is 0°C or colder, snowflakes stay small because they do not stick together. People call this dry snow or powder snow. Dry snow is great for skiing, but drivers do not like it very much. On a windy day, dry snow blows across roads and makes it hard for drivers to see where they are going.

To learn more about snow, watch the video by SciShow Kids on YouTube.