Do Dark Colors Make Snow Melt Faster?

When snow and ice combine to make my steep driveway impossible to drive up, I wait for a sunny day and sprinkle ashes on top of the snow. I’m convinced the dark color of the ashes helps make the snow melt faster (not to mention, give me traction when I try to drive up).

Does color influence the rate of snow melting? You can test this by cutting squares of different colors of felt or construction paper and spreading them over the top of the snow on the next sunny day. After a couple hours compare how deep each color has sunk below the surface.

Do light colors melt the snow as fast as dark colors?

How fast do leaves and twigs and clusters of pine needles melt into the snow?

Snow Talk

This morning thousands of fat, fluffy snowflakes hurtled earthward, adding to the three or four inches that accumulated yesterday. The snow was cold, powdery, too dry for snowballs. By lunchtime the sun broke through and the temperature climbed, leaving a melty top layer that will freeze into a thick icy crust tonight.

The quality of snow falling and layering into icy strata that, if this weather keeps up, may not melt till the Ides of March changes from day to day. Sometimes from hour to hour. I’m not sure if our language has enough words to describe these changes. But the people living near the North Pole do. According to folks who study such things, the People of the North have more than a hundred words for snow. Here’s a few:

qanuk = snowflake

qanik = falling snow

pirtuk = blizzard or snowstorm

cellallir = snowing heavily

pirrelvag = blizzarding heavily

kaneq = frost

kanevvluk = fine snow particles

nevluk = clinging snow particles

qali = snow that collects on trees

qanikcaq = snow on the ground

natquik = drifting snow

murvaneq = soft deep snow

qengaruk = snowbank

qetrar = crust on snow

upsik = wind-beaten snow

kiaoglaqq = wind-eroded snow

siqoqtoak = sun-crusted snow

tsiko = ice

kuhagaq = icicle

nutaryuk = freshly fallen snow on the ground

qunisqinea = fresh fallen snow floating on water

We may not have a hundred, but here are some of the words the English language has collected to describe the ice and snow of winter: blizzard, blowing snow, corn snow, crusty, drifting, dry, dusting, flurries, frost, glazed, graupel, hail, hard packed, heavy, hoar, ice, meltwater crust, powder, rime, slush, sleet, snowflake, snow squall, snirt, sugar snow, white-out and wind crust.

Do you know more snow words that should be added to the list?

If there is no word to describe the snow in your part of the world, make some up.

Getting Around on the Snow

It just keeps on snowing – and the snow keeps getting deeper and deeper. When there’s a lot of snow on the ground, many animals have a hard time getting around. But not the lynx and snowshoe hare – their feet are large and wide compared to the rest of their body. And covered with extra hair. Those big, hairy feet allow them to float on top of the snow instead of sinking.

If you try walking on top of fresh, deep snow, you’ll sink up to your knees – or deeper! But if you lie down and make snow angels you don’t, because your body weight is spread over a larger area.

The trick to walking on top of snow is to spread your weight out. Like lynx and snowshoe hares, you need bigger feet. You can make your feet larger by strapping on a pair of snowshoes.

If you don’t have snowshoes, cardboard boxes (without topses) will do. Just grab a pizza box or two and some heavy-duty scissors. Put your boot on a piece of cardboard and draw a line around it – but five inches (about a hand-span) wider than the boot’s edge. Mark two dots on each side of the boot – that’s where you’ll poke holes for your shoestring “snowshoe bindings”.

Shape your snowshoe outline into an oval, and cut it out. Poke the holes where you marked, and use shoelaces or twine to tie them on your feet. Then grab a ruler and head outside.

First, take a few steps in the snow without your snowshoes. How deep do you sink?

Now tie on your snow-walking pizza shoes and take some steps. What’s it like to have big feet? Do you walk differently? More important – how far do you sink into the snow?