Let It Snow! was first published in the 1998-1999 Ely Winter Times:
Snow is pretty amazing stuff. Did you know that a light powder snow cover is 92% air? It has a higher R-value than fiberglass insulation. Just nine inches is enough to keep the soil from freezing even in sub-zero temperatures. In fact, snow is such a good insulator that in a normal winter, the soil temperatures at twelve feet are warmer in January than in July! (Of course, it’s a rare place around Ely that has twelve feet of soil, but if you find one it will be warm there.)
When you think of the delicacy of a snowflake, it’s easy to understand that snow doesn’t stay light and fluffy for long. The process technically referred to as “destructive metamorphism” often begins even before the flake settles to earth. The points break, and the flake gets smaller and rounder. Sometimes super-cooled water vapor crystallizes on the flake as it falls, making it denser and heavier until it resembles a blob more than a flake. The technical name for this is graupel.
Once snow is on the ground, it is subject to wear and tear from sun, wind, and more snow falling on top of it. But even snow that’s older and denser, like “sugar snow,” is about 70% air and an excellent insulator.
Small mammals take advantage of all this insulation as they tunnel around through the snow layers in winter. Mice, unlike bears, can’t store enough fat to keep themselves insulated, and with a relatively large surface area to body mass, they would cool down quickly if they were exposed to 20 degrees below zero. But they stay under the snow, rarely experiencing temperatures much below freezing. A quinzhee (snow shelter) is the human equivalent of a mouse tunnel, with inside temperatures staying in the 20’s regardless of outside temperature.
Snow makes life harder for the larger members of the plant kingdom. To cope with the stresses of a heavy snow load, spruce and balsam have evolved a shape that sheds snow like a steep roof. Even so, with a heavy snow and calm weather, a 30’ tall spruce could end up with snow piled up to 10” thick on its branches, resulting in a snow load well over a ton.
There’s more to learn about snow than you might ever have imagined. If you’re interested, check out Life in the Cold by Peter Marchand or Winter by Halfpenny and Ozanne. There are also several books and a video about quinzhee building. Ask at the Ely Library, Piragis Northwoods Co, or [Chapman Street Books].
Of course, you don’t have to know much to get outside and enjoy snow — just take a kid and they’ll teach you!
