SNOW DAY!

Prospect Park

I hope all my PS 230 students are getting outside to enjoy the snow. Ms. Seitz sure is! Decorate your street with a snowman, have a friendly snowball fight or go sledding in Prospect Park. Remember to dress in layers and wear warm, water-proof boots. Now, go have some fun!

I'm sure many of you have gone to the Pavilion Theatre. Well this is what it looked like on snow day. Notice they had to take down the letters from the marquee because it was so windy.

Prospect Park sledding hill by the Picnic House

Ms. Seitz all bundled up in front of her snowy house

SCIENCE QUESTION - HOW DOES SNOW FORM?

Snow begins in the atmosphere as water condenses into a tiny droplet. As more and more water vapor condenses onto its surface, the droplet grows. Cold air then freezes this water into an ice crystal.

Each ice crystal has a unique shape that depends on the surrounding air's temperature and water vapor content. If it is below freezing and there is a lot of water vapor in the air, the crystal grows six evenly spaced branches. More and more water vapor collects on these branches and freezes, making the ice crystal increasingly heavy. Eventually, the ice crystal falls from the sky, leaving the cloud of precipitation that it helped to form. As it falls, the crystal continues to grow by picking up more water vapor.


As it descends, the ice crystal can come into contact with warmer air that makes it melt somewhat. This melting acts like a glue, causing crystals to bond together into larger flakes, forming what many people think of as the "classic" fluffy snowflake. If the crystals melt too much and then refreeze as they get closer to Earth's surface, the precipitation falls as sleet instead of snow.

Once on the ground, snow will remain if temperatures are cold enough to keep it from melting. Glaciers that form on mountains, for example, are made up of snow that accumulates on the ground and eventually turns to ice.