Snow Way!

Winter can sometimes be a bit depressing, what with all the cold dark days and pouring rain…(especially if you live in the UK!)  I thought everyone could do with some cheering up! So with the freezing temperatures on the way and snowflakes on my mind, I have put together some interesting facts about snow, ice and all things chilly!… Snuggle up, enjoy and keep warm guys!

• Most snowflakes are six-sided. Sometimes the six sides are flat, and sometimes six decorative spokes radiate from the centre.
• Did you know that each winter one septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)  of snow crystals drop from the sky and that it takes about a million little droplets to make one snowflake?
• Canada and the northeast USA experienced bitter cold and snow all through the summer in 1916. This was because dust from a volcano blocked the sun.
• No two snowflakes are the same.  (A scientist photographed over 400,000 snowflakes to prove that fact!)
• Did you know that a single snowstorm can drop more than 39 million tons of snow, carrying the energy equivalent to 120 atomic bombs?
• The lowest temperature ever recorded was minus 89.2ºC. It was recorded on 10 January 1982 in Antarctica.
• The largest snowflake ever recorded measured 38 cm across. It fell in the United States in 1887.
• It is so cold in some parts of Russia that milk is sold in frozen blocks instead of in liquid form.
• The capital of Finland, Helsinki, has 51 days in winter when it is dark for 24 hours a day, and 73 days of daylight in summer when the sun does not set.
• The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze over completely!
• The average snowflake has a top speed of 1.7 metres per second.
• It can be as warm as +5 degrees Celsius and still snow.
• While many think that snow is either white or blue, its ‘colors’ range from yellow and orange to green and even purple, but…believe it or not, snow is actually colorless.
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest snowflake on record measured 38cm wide and 20cm thick. It was observed in Montana, USA in 1887 and described by witnesses as “larger than a milk pan”.
• Chionophobia is a fear of snow!
• 10 inches of snow equals one inch of liquid rain.
• The world’s largest snowman was actually a snowwoman. Residents of Bethel, Maine built the 122 ft giant in 2008, giving her 30 ft spruce trees for arms and skis for eyelashes.
• Around 12 per cent of the Earth’s land surface is covered in permanent snow and ice.
• The largest hailstone recorded fell on 14 April 1986 in Bangladesh weighing 1kg (2.25lbs). The hailstorm reportedly killed 92 people.
• The average thickness of the ice sheet that covers 98% of Antarctica is 2,200 meters (7,200 feet). This amounts to 90% of the ice and 70% of all the fresh water in the world.
  
  Author: Rosie Austin.
  The CampTrip Team