This year we have already gotten more snow than we had in the past few years combined. It has been cold and slushy here. Today’s topic is “snow.” Most people know what it is, not everyone gets to interact with it, and some of the places that usually don’t have to are dealing with it today.
Thanks this week go to Steven, Kristin, Amy, Nicole, Linda,Scott F, Betsy and some other guy. Let’s get to the questions.
1. The blizzard of 78. Thoughts? Ohioans love to share our winter misery.
Ummm… I was 3 years old and in Alabama for the Blizzard of 78. I have no thoughts on this at all.
2. Does it annoy you when your hometown friends (from Alabama) call you and ask you for pictures of snow?
Not especially. Often I cannot provide any though. I think some of my friends trapped in the south think that the second you go north of Kentucky the temperature drops and there are snow drifts blocking the freeways.
3. Also does it annoy you when your hometown friends send you pictures of snow from said hometown (Birmingham, Alabama area for those keeping score)?
No, not at all. I remember the icestorm of ‘81 in Alabama (Ohio Blizzard of ‘78 can kiss my ass), and how it completely immobilized the world. Snow is no joke when people don’t have to deal with it regularly.
4. Snow cones, favorite flavor? Does anyone eat those anymore?
I think they are now referred to as “shaved ice” or in some instances “Hawaiian ice” now. So they still exist, but the name and level of sophistication has changed. The flavors offered now are fairly robust, but since we are talking specifically about “snow cones”... straight up cherry.
5. What exactly are the requirements for a shutdown in Columbus?
They vary. There have been a few times that the threat of snow caused cancellations, and there have been other times when it made no sense to have kids try to get to school. Usually, it has to do with amount if snow/ice or super cold temperatures.
6. What happens if someone eats the yellow snow?
They will lose most of their friends. There is a reason that lemon snow cones were never a thing.
7. Why is snow white and not some other color - wouldn't multicolored snow be pretty especially when it sparkles with the sunlight?
This is an interesting question. In its purest form snow is not white, it is clear. When you zoom into look at snowflakes, they are not white they are clear. They appear white because of light refraction on the roughened surface of the feathery ice crystals. Much like frosted glass is not actually white. It is clear with a roughed surface that traps light.
8. Is it true that no two snowflakes are alike?
It is understood that no two are alike because of how they are formed and how they interact with other particulates in the air. The chaotic environment that they are formed within drives them to be unique.
9. How can that be proven?
It can only be statistically proven, but not actually wholly proven. Take a significant sample size of snowflakes and examine them. No two will be identical. You have to extrapolate that the trend continues for all. One of the ways that they have tried to prove that idea false is by controlling all the variables and creating snowflakes in the lab. Even when everything that can be held constant is held constant, the flakes generated are not identical.
10. Why is snow hexagonal?
It has to do with the molecular structure of the two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom that make up the water molecule. The angle of the bend between the three atoms lend for a larger lattice that interacts with each other on tri-axial symmetry, or hexagonal.
11. Did Jon Snow really just go back to the Wall when it was all said and done?
It’s where he was happiest
12. So, what is Coriolanus Snow’s deal?
He is a person who, when push came to shove, decided he wanted to survive above anything else. hee hee. his first name ends with “anus.” I am a child.
13. Why am I frequently promised a big, juicy disruptive snow storm and all I get is a small nuisance snow?
Because, in weather, it is better to over-promise and have things under-perform. That way, people are ever only over prepared.
14. Which Calvin & Hobbes snow themed comic is your favorite?
It is clear that Gen X is in the house. Pretty sure that Boomers didn’t care for Calvin & Hobbes because they liked Hagar the Horrible, Beetle Baily, Ziggy, Peanuts or Cathy. Bill Watterson is a god amongst comic strips people. He left while he was on top and has, from everything I have watched and read, really been enjoying his retirement. Pretty much any of his Snow Goons strips are amazing, but the one that immediately came to mind is this one.
15. At your age, what is harder to make… a good snow angel, a three-tiered snow person, or a well-packed snowball?
The snow still has to be right to be able to make good snow people. I would say that one. Snow angels you just need enough snow to lay on, and well packed snowballs can be done with any snow provided you are able to get the snow wet enough to pack… also “At your age?” ouch
16. Any advice to the people in the south dealing with snow and power outages?
Nothing concrete. Stay as warm as you can. It is alarming what you are going through.
17. What is the most snow that you have seen fall in one 24 hour period?
I think there was 10 to 12 inches that fell one time over the course fo 24 hours. It was not a day so to speak because it started snowing at 8 pm and finished snowing at like 6 or 7pm the following day.
18. Is it apocryphal that the Aleutians have a bajillionty words for snow?
I think the legend is that there are 50 words for snow in the “Inuit language.” The problem is that there is not one singular Inuit language. In English there are a handful of snow words, in French a few more, Italian, German, Norwegian, Spanish, etc…. When there are a handful of words in multiple languages, it add up to 50 really quickly. So… yes and no.
19. Is hail a kind of snow?
Not really. Hail happens when the air mass at ground level is warmer than freezing temperatures (often significantly warmer) and snow happens when the air mass at ground level is below freezing. Hail is formed by water going sooooo high up in the atmosphere that it freezes and aggregates into ice balls that are too heavy to stay aloft, and too dense to melt by the time they hit the ground. Snow happens when the water droplets form ice crystals and do not aggregate into big old honking ice balls.
20. How cold does it have to be for there to be snow? Is there an optimum amount of cold?
I hate to be pedantic (sometimes I truly do, but this is not one of those times. This time around I am perfectly happy to be pedantic).... Buuuuuut, there is no such thing as cold. There is no true definition of cold. Cold is in the eye of the beholder, because cold is actually the absence of heat. People in Florida think that 50 F is cold (10 C to my metrics out there). Heat can be measured, but cold cannot.
To recap:
Send warm thoughts to the Southern US
They don’t usually have to deal with this
They don’t have houses that are prepared to be without power when it is bitter outside
I have 5 interviews going on concurrently right now
We are on q’s 4, 8, 11, 13, and 14
Maybe by next post I will have one of them ready
I do have my next topic at the ready though, and it is a doozy
I got a new couch and the doggos love it
Stay safe out there
Have a great week everyone